Tomorrow's Family
by KatieGirl901
Summary: When someone from Gibbs' past comes back into his life unexpectedly will the MCRT team be able to help him come to terms with the changes about to take place in his life? How will Jenny fit in and how does she handle the changes in her life?
1. Of Chinese Food and Major Life Changes

**Hello everyone! So I'm changing things up a bit and putting an authors note at the beginning! I was re-reading Family First this week and I found quite a few things I wasn't happy with so I've decided to take the exact same premise and re-work it, it will be similar but I really needed to change some things, I will be taking Family First and Lean on me and mashing them together. Those of you who are writers will understand how I feel, I was trying to write the next chapters of Lean on Me but I just couldn't get it to flow so instead of writing a subpar story I'm just going to rework it into something I really think you'll all enjoy, I'll be going back and taking a look at everyone's comments and suggestions and working as much as I can into this... Please please please don't be upset with me, you'll still get to finish the stories just with more character development and a bit better detail into what's happening!**

 **Thank you!**

 **Katie**

 **ONE**

NCIS Director Jenny Shepard looked up from the report she was reading when her office door opened and Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs walked in carrying a bag of takeout.

"Don't you ever knock?" She asked, annoyance creeping into her voice.

"I can take my food and leave." He retorted, shooting her a look before settling on her couch.

Jenny sighed before closing her file and moving over to sit beside him, "what did you get?"

"Chinese." He replied making a plate up and handing it to her.

"My ass and thighs hate you but my stomach thanks you."

"Your ass is fine Jen." He commented around a bite of chicken.

Jenny just rolled her eyes before going back to her dinner, when she had first started working at the Navy Yard they had occasionally talked outside of the office or when they ran into each other but since Gibbs had come back from his Margarita Safari in Mexico as they were calling it, they regularly had dinner together when they had to stay late.

"So what's the occasion tonight?" Jenny asked.

"Do I need an occasion?" Gibbs questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Nope but there normally is one."

"Need to take off for an hour tomorrow morning, D'Arcy called and needs me to come in to sign something. Probably has to do with the last case we had, there might be something for you to sign too."

"And there's the occasion." Jenny muttered, "what time is it at?"

"At 0900."

"Just pick me up at my place, I'll go in with you." Jenny replied, wiping her lips with her napkin.

"You don't have to I'll just bring you the papers."

"That's okay, to be honest I wouldn't mind sleeping in past 0530." Jenny said with a smirk.

Gibbs chuckled, "alright I'll pick you up at 0830."

N*C*I*S

She looked around the beige room with curious blue eyes, she had been called out of school an hour earlier to meet with her social worker, who had yet to show up. The volunteer driver from child welfare had dropped her off over half an hour ago and she had been waiting in the dull room ever since, there was a basket full of toys in one corner and a desk against one wall and two overly stuffed chairs, one of which she was occupying. She looked back to the book in her lap, Advanced Calculus was killing her this year and between watching her younger foster siblings, her other classes and her chores she was quickly falling behind.

She looked up when the door opened to see her social worker Melody walk in and take a seat in the chair opposite her.

"How're you doing Kelly?" Melody asked, folding her hands on her lap in front of her.

"I'm fine, would be better if I wasn't missing Calculus." She replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"Sorry about that, how is school going?"

"It's fine, you wouldn't have called me out of school just to talk Mel, what's going on?" Kelly asked suspiciously.

"You know we've been looking for your father," when Kelly nodded she continued, "we've found him, Kelly."

"You found him?" Kelly asked incredulously, she had hoped but never really believed that they would find him. "Where is he?"

"He's meeting with a worker, they're filling him in on everything as we speak." Melody replied, pulling out a brief file on the man in question, "we put together a bit of information about him for you, all public record so no rules were broken." Melody promised, knowing Kelly was a stickler for rules.

Kelly reached for the file and stared at the cover, taking a deep breath before opening it.

N*C*I*S

"Now Special Agent Gibbs, we're aware this is a lot to take in, however we would like you to take some time an consider your options here." D'Arcy said, eyeing the silver haired man before her. "You do not have to do anything, we can schedule visits if you wish to be in contact with Kelly or we can just leave things as they are."

"Is there anyway that I can get her back?" Gibbs asked without hesitating .

"Well you never signed away your parental rights and since you are in fact her father you certainly have a legal claim to her, my concern would be that you work unpredictable hours and you are a single man, those things don't tend to sit well with a judge especially when you consider making sure Kelly has a stable home life." D'Arcy replied honestly, "I know you Gibbs and I'd trust you with my own children, you have a good track record as a guardian but that was always temporary."

"What if he had someone to help him?"

D'Arcy and Gibbs both looked to the woman who sat beside him.

"That would help his case, it would also be beneficial for Kelly to have a woman present in her life and in her home." D'Arcy replied.

"What would I have to do to be considered a fit foster parent?" She asked.

"I would have to look over your file but you don't have a criminal record and you have a steady job, the only issue I can see a judge having is once again your working hours and possibly living arrangements."

"I could cut back on my office hours and work more from home." She replied.

"Could we have a few minutes to talk alone?" Gibbs asked, cutting Jenny off.

"Of course, take your time." D'Arcy replied excusing herself.

"What're you doing Jen?" He asked incredulously.

She looked at the man who sat beside her, his face relatively void of emotions but she could see the confusion and anguish behind his eyes at the thought of his daughter.

"I'm helping you Jethro." She replied softly.

"You don't have to do this."

"I know I don't, don't ask me why I'm doing it just let me do it."

"I want my daughter back, but I don't want you to resent me for that, don't want you to feel trapped, can't ask you to do this, Jen."

"Jethro, you're not asking, I'm telling you I'm doing it. I was with you after your accident I saw how devastated you were when you realized they weren't coming back, Shannon isn't coming back but Kelly, by some miracle, she's here Jethro, she's here, she's alive and she's healthy. I couldn't help you after your accident but I can help you now and I'm not taking no for an answer." Jenny replied firmly.

Gibbs had known the woman in front of him for almost ten years, he knew that when she was determined to do something she would do it and there was no stopping her, and right now she had a look of sheer determination in her eyes.

"Not gonna try and stop you, I know there's no point. What about living arrangements? We're probably going to have to live together to make this work, what happens if one of us starts seeing someone or we want some space?" Gibbs asked practically.

"Jethro I don't have time to date and last time I check neither do you but if you think it's going to be an issue I'll go back to my house for the night if you want to have someone over." Jenny replied rolling her eyes. "That is if you want to stay at your place."

"I don't know, my house probably isn't big enough for three of us, especially if the team wants to spend the night." Gibbs reasoned.

"Are you saying you want to move?" Jenny questioned

"It's an option." He responded with a shrug, "just need a minute to think, what do you want to do?"

"I'm okay with whatever you want to do… I need to get out of my house, it's time to move on."

Gibbs nodded, he understood that for her that house was a constant reminder of her father's death, a reminder that she hadn't been able to save him like he hadn't been able to save his wife and daughter, or so he had thought. There was a quick knock on the door before D'Arcy poked her head in.

"Sorry to interrupt, I just wanted to give you this," she stated, handing them each a paper. "If you decide you want to get custody this is a list of things you'll need to figure out before you go before a judge. Basics such as living arrangements, financial situations and scheduling all need to be taken into consideration."

"When can I see her?" Gibbs asked, ignoring the paper in his hands.

"We've informed Kelly that we found you, at this point in time she wants to meet you but she's not ready to do it just yet, she's feeling a bit overwhelmed, we'll give you a call either later today or tomorrow to set something up. As far as getting custody of her the sooner you have a plan of action the sooner we can petition the judge for a custody transfer."

"We need some time to talk, is there anyway we can meet with you later today or tomorrow when we have a clearer plan?" Jenny asked, knowing Gibbs needed a minute to process everything.

"I can meet with you both at seven o'clock tonight if that'll work for you." D'Arcy offered.

"That's perfect." Jenny replied, standing up and placing a hand on Gibbs' shoulder, "we'll talk over our options today and have a better idea of what we're doing tonight."


	2. A Twist in The Plan

**Two**

Jenny sat at the dining room table at Gibbs' house and looked at the large amounts of paper spread out in front of her. She and Gibbs had spent the last three hours going over their options and had finally decided on how they would work the most basic things involving Kelly, they had agreed that Gibbs' house was too small for the three of them especially with the members of his team coming and going and that Jenny's house just wasn't suited to having a kid, even an older one living in it.

"So we had a talk with Kelly today," D'Arcy, who Gibbs had let in a moment earlier, began. "She was shocked, to say the least, that you were interested in taking her, she's open to the idea but she's very hesitant to leave her two foster siblings, they've been together for the last two years and she's become very attached to them."

"How old are they?" Jenny asked.

"The oldest, Jacob is ten and the youngest Ava is only six months old, they've both had a difficult time of it even in their short lives and Kelly doesn't want to leave them to face the system alone." D'Arcy replied, "if I'm being honest I've looked at Jake's file, and before he ended up in the home he's in with Kelly he was a problem child, he bounced around a lot but he's been a completely different kid since he met Kelly."

"What if we were to foster them as well?" Jenny asked when she saw Gibbs' face fall just a bit at the idea that he may not get his daughter back.

"That's a lot of responsibility, especially for two people with high stress jobs and no family to help them out." D'Arcy replied.

"We have family." Gibbs stated, "may not be a normal family, but we have family."

"That would help your case if this is something you're interested in doing, but you really should think this over, talk about it, it's a big decision."

Jenny looked over at Gibbs and gave him just the smallest of nods, if this was what he wanted then she would do it without hesitation, he raised an eyebrow at her as if to say _are you sure?_ She nodded again, it may have been years since they had worked closely together but they were still capable of unspoken communication.

"We'll do it." Gibbs stated firmly.

"Do you have any sort of plan figured out?" D'Arcy asked.

"We talked about it and decided that we want to look into moving, Jethro's house definitely isn't big enough for five people and my house isn't very kid friendly." Jenny started, "as far as work, I'll work four days at the Navy Yard and the rest from home, unless I have an important meeting, any time I have to leave the country Jethro will take time off of work to stay home with the kids."

"DiNozzo's proven he can run the team by himself if the need arises and I've got enough vacation time saved up that I can take whatever time I need too." Gibbs added.

"And what about your financial situation, kids aren't cheap especially if you're planning on moving." D'Arcy pointed out.

"We decided to sell my house which will give us more than enough to buy a new house, we both make good money and neither of us has spent much in the last ten years, my father left a sizeable amount when he died as well." Jenny informed her.

"Like Jen said, haven't spent much since Shan died it's been sitting collecting interest, money's not an issue." Gibbs added.

"Alright, now what about school for the kids? And daycare for Ava?"

"NCIS has a daycare for agents with kids, security is good and only the best workers are hired, as for school we'll make sure that they'll be able to go where they want to if at all possible." Jenny replied.

"Kelly has agreed to arrange a meeting for sometime this week, since it is only the very beginning of the school year we'd like to transfer custody as soon as possible so that in the event they have to change schools they won't be too far behind." D'Arcy explained.

"How soon can we do it?" Gibbs asked.

"Since you're moving a judge probably won't agree to transfer custody until you have found a place, so the sooner you can do that the better, I'm going to say that it'll take about a month before you can take them home." D'Arcy estimated, "that is if you can find a house."

"We'll find something." Gibbs assured her confidently, he would move mountains to get his daughter back and if his biggest obstacle was finding a house then he would solve that problem as quickly as possible.

"Do you have anyone who could write you recommendation letters?" D'Arcy asked, "it would really help your case if the judge could see that you have a support system in place."

"We'll find a few people." Jenny assured her, "is there anything else we can do?"

"Right now you're doing everything you can, I know both of you fairly well professionally and I can honestly say that if you stick to the plan you've outlined you shouldn't have a problem finding a judge willing to grant you custody. Special Agent Gibbs since you're already a foster parent that won't be an issue but Director you will need to take a few classes."

"What kind of classes?" Jenny asked, not unwilling to do it.

"They basically just outline the do's and don't's of parenting and how to handle the system and such." D'Arcy explained, "they're not difficult."

"I'll do whatever I need to." Jenny replied firmly.

"I'm glad to hear that." D'Arcy responded with a grin, "now since it is getting late I'll let you both return to your evening and I'll be in touch tomorrow."

Jenny remained seated at the table while Gibbs showed D'Arcy out and took a moment to let her brain catch up with the events of the day, it seemed like every single aspect of her life was changing within a matter of seconds. None of these changes were particularly unwelcome, they were just another twist in the ride her life had become but she still needed a moment to process and she was unsure and slightly worried about how Gibbs was dealing with everything.

"You sure you wanna do this?" A gruff voice asked from behind her.

Jenny turned around and looked at the silver haired man leaning against the dining room entrance, his steely blue eyes piercing her bright green ones.

"Are you sure?" She turned his question back on him softly.

"Still think it's a dream." He admitted quietly, "you didn't answer my question."

"I'm sure." She replied.

Gibbs nodded and sat down across from her at the table, he sifted through the paper in front of him, more to keep his hands busy than to read anything.

"When are you going to tell your team?" Jenny asked a few minutes later, breaking the comfortable silence.

"Thought we'd tell them tomorrow, probably need their help." He replied with a shrug.

"Do you want me there?" Jenny asked, since Gibbs had left on his mini retirement she had become closer to his team but sometimes she still felt like an outsider looking in on a close knit family.

"You're a pretty important part of the plan, probably wouldn't hurt." He replied with a small smirk.

Jenny nodded before looking across the table to study Gibbs' face, as usual he had a firmly placed mask over his emotions. The sniper in him allowed him to hide any emotion he didn't want others to see, it was something she had loved about him on the job but when it came to their personal relationship it was one of the things that had ultimately driven them apart.

"Are you okay, Jethro?" She asked quietly.

"Not sure." He answered honestly, "I'm gonna go work on my boat." He informed her before standing up, "thank you Jenny," he added, pausing in the doorway to the kitchen before disappearing down the stairs.

Jenny watched him leave before letting her head fall back and closing her eyes for a moment, he masked it well but she could still hear the confusion and anguish in his voice that was always present when he talked or thought about his daughter.

Gibbs stood in his basement and stared at the boat in front of him, it was quickly taking shape, he had thrown himself into his work when he had returned from Mexico, trying to forget about his wife and daughter. Now it would be impossible. His most desired wish was being granted and his daughter was being given back to him and he was terrified that he would wake up and it would all have been a dream or a very sick joke. The man who feared nothing was terrified, terrified that she would be taken away again or that looking at her would remind him too much of Shannon, the first woman he had fallen in love with. He wanted his daughter back so badly but he was unsure how he would be able to handle it and how would the family he had pieced together fit in? Would they accept her? Would they support Gibbs and ultimately Jenny in what they were trying to do? He knew Tony and Jenny still had their issues after the La Grenouille debacle, he still had issues with it but he hoped that they could put it to the side at least enough so that they could take care of the kids together.

He sighed and picked up his sander, hoping to take some of his anxiety and frustration out on his boat, if nothing else it would get him one step closer to finishing the damn thing.

 **Well guys, second chapter done, please remember I own nothing it all belongs to DPB! I really love to hear from you guys and reviews are always appreciated!**

 **~Katie**


	3. A Functional Mute and A Workaholic

**Three**

Jenny Shepard stared at the group in front of her, they had originally planned to invite the team to Gibbs' house to tell them about Kelly but they had caught a case and hadn't had a free moment until well after the time they had planned to have them over. They had decided to gather them in Jenny's office instead, since the majority of the building had already gone home they had the privacy they had wanted any way.

"Okay what's going on? Boss said we couldn't go home until we came up here, I'm tired and want to get to bed." Special Agent Anthony 'Tony' DiNozzo whined.

Mossad liaison Officer Ziva David lightly elbowed Tony, attempting to get him to shut up so they could hear what Jenny had to say, she wanted to get home as much as he did but she knew that the more he talked the longer it would take.

"Jethro and I called you up here because we had an announcement to make." Jenny started, only to be cut off by excited voices.

"You're back together!" This from Tony.

"You're getting married!" Exclaimed Palmer.

"No wait I've got it, you're having a baby!" Abby yelled excitedly.

"Oh I bet you it has Jenny's hair and Gibbs' eyes!" Tony added, only to be cut off by a sharp whistle from Gibbs.

"No we are not together, we are certainly not getting married and we're not having a baby, do I look pregnant to you? Abby and Tony were slightly right though, there are going to be a three new members of the team and the family and one definitely has Jethro's eyes but her hair is all Shannon's." Jenny replied, waiting a moment for that last fact to sink in, she wasn't disappointed when she heard whispers of Kelly's name as wide eyes turned her way, Gibbs stood slightly behind her, silently observing his teams reactions.

"Open the files in front of you, as you know Shannon and Kelly Gibbs were in an accident when Kelly was four years old, both died in the accident or so we thought. Kelly was put into witness protection, they were afraid Hernandez or one of his gang would use Kelly as leverage to get information out of Jethro on the murder Shannon witnessed. Jethro got a call from social services yesterday, Kelly had the option to start looking for him and she decided to take it, we found out yesterday morning."

"So what will happen to her now?" Ziva asked.

"Jethro had a lower chance of getting sole custody so I agreed to share custody with him; before you ask yes that means we will be living together that's where you all come in." Jenny explained, peeking over her shoulder at Gibbs who was leaning against the window sill behind her desk.

"Who're the second and third new members?" Tony asked.

"Kelly didn't want to leave her two foster siblings, so we agreed to take them. Jacob Nelson is ten and Ava McNeil is six months old." Gibbs spoke up.

"A baby!" Forensic Scientist Abby Sciuto squealed excitedly, "so what do you need from us?"

"Well my place isn't big enough for five people, we need to find a house and move fairly quickly so we can get custody." Gibbs replied.

"If I may interrupt I may have a solution to that problem, once mother moved into the nursing home I decided to find a new, smaller home for myself and recently found a lovely little home just outside the city, that being said I will need to sell my house. It is plenty big enough for five people and it is on a lovely property, very child friendly, if I could keep it in the family I would prefer that and you could move in whenever you wish." Ducky offered, "you could of course make whatever changes you wish but I have already taken possession of the new house and moved most of my belongings over I just need to sort through mothers belongings or find somewhere to store them."

"That might actually work Duck, what do you think Jen?" Gibbs asked turning to the woman in question.

"Why don't we head out and you guys can talk about the details, call and let us know whatever you need us to do." Special Agent Timothy 'Tim' McGee offered, pulling a reluctant Abby with him.

"Thank you Agent McGee, we'll call all of you tomorrow morning and let you know what we're going to do okay?" Jenny replied, watching as they all nodded and held in all the questions they wanted to ask.

Once the group was gone Jenny turned to Ducky and Gibbs who were still talking quietly in front of her desk.

"I have slowly been moving into the new house, I wanted to be settled in before I told anyone I had moved but I can be out within a few days if the team is willing to aid me." Ducky said.

"What do you think Jen?" Gibbs asked, once again turning to the woman.

"I've always loved your house Ducky, but are you sure you're ready to sell?" Jenny asked, she had been to Ducky's house several times when she was a probie on Gibbs' team and had loved the old charm and size of the house, not to mention the several acres of property it sat on.

"Oh yes my dear, the old place could use some young life in it and I do believe you and Jethro could give it that." Ducky replied, "I do wish to encourage you both in this but I must ask have you thought this all the way through, what it will mean for both of you?"

Jenny smiled at the older man who had become like a father or much older brother to her over the years, he had always been the voice of reason, the one to support her when she was unsure of herself.

"It's moved pretty fast but we've talked it all over and we're going to make it work." Jenny replied, "we're in a good place now." She added, looking at Gibbs hesitantly, who in turn gave her a small nod.

"Well I hope you both know that you have a family to support you through this." Ducky reminded both of them gently, "why don't you both come by the house tomorrow and take a look around, you can decided whether or not you want to take it and decide what changes you would like to make. If you choose to take it you can move in whenever you would like, I will have my realtor draw up the papers. Now if you'll excuse me I will let both of you discuss things, I really must be going."

They both said goodnight to the elderly Scotsman before Jenny sat down in her chair behind her desk and looked over at Gibbs who was leaning on the chair in front of her desk.

"Well what do ya think?" Gibbs asked, carefully studying the woman in front of him.

"I've always loved Ducky's house, and it's plenty big enough for five people and the team to come by whenever they want, we know it's in good shape." She replied honestly.

Gibbs watched her carefully, waiting for her right eye to twitch, her one tell. When it didn't twitch he nodded, "we're probably gonna have to paint and get some new furniture that we both like."

"I was thinking taking your team out of rotation for two or three days so we could get that all done, D'Arcy said that if we found a house the whole process would be quicker. As long as we have everything set up for the kids we don't have to be completely moved in before we can get custody. We'll do whatever renovations we need to and set up the kids rooms and then move in our stuff when we have time." Jenny said, the gears in her head turning and already mentally making a list of things to be done.

"Are you going to be able to take them out of rotation?" Gibbs asked skeptically, "how're you planning on explaining that to SecNav."

"You're team has an abundance of time off stored up, no one will ask questions, Balboa's team will take over for a few days, I'm going to call in Vance and say I have a family issue to deal with and take a few days leave." Jenny replied.

"What're we telling people about our arrangement?" Gibbs asked.

"Right now nothing, at least until we figure everything out, it's safer and easier for everyone that way." Jenny replied reasonably.

Gibbs nodded, "Ducky's place has five bedrooms and space for an office, we can do it up so you have somewhere to work when you want to work from home where the kids can't get to anything."

"Why don't we meet at Ducky's in the morning? I'll send in the leave requests for everyone tonight and we can get to work tomorrow afternoon." Jenny suggested, "the sooner we can get it done the sooner we can get custody, we need to get reference letters too."

"I'll talk to them about it tomorrow, I have a feeling the words functional mute and workaholic will be used in them." Gibbs grumbled, wondering how the hell he was going to get recommendation letters he could actually use.

 **Well guys, third chapter done, please remember I own nothing it all belongs to DPB! It's not my favourite and it's more of a filler but the next one will be better! I really love to hear from you guys and reviews are always appreciated!**

 **~Katie**


	4. Blue Eyed Girl

**FOUR**

Jenny stared at the mirror in front of her, studying the outfit she was wearing, she had decided on dark blue jeans, a white t-shirt, a long army green sweater and brown suede boots, her shoulder length red hair was down and curled loosely. They had gotten a call from D'Arcy earlier that day to inform them that Kelly wanted to meet them, they had agreed to meet at a restaurant later that day after they had gone to look at Ducky's house. After discussing it the previous evening they had both decided that Ducky's suggestion to move into his old house was the best solution, especially since they both loved the house and property anyway. The visit had been more of a formality to make lists of what they wanted to change before they moved in, Ducky's realtor was working out a deal with Jenny's lawyer, in the meantime Ducky had finished moving most of his things out and had decided to store a few things at Gibbs' house so Jenny and Gibbs could start to move their belongings in.

So now Jenny stood in the bedroom of her house debating on whether she was dressed appropriately to meet her future foster daughter, she wanted to look good but didn't want to seem to uptight or formal. She had thought that Gibbs would want to meet Kelly alone for the first time but he had insisted she join him, she suspected he wanted her there as a buffer. She was giving her makeup one final touch up when her door bell rang out, she grabbed her bag and hurried down the stairs. When she opened the door it was to find Gibbs standing on the other side in black jeans and a dark blue button up shirt.

"You ready?" He asked, letting his eyes quickly scan her outfit.

"Yeah, I was thinking that maybe after supper we could take Kelly to look at paint samples so she can pick a colour for her room." Jenny suggested as she climbed into the front seat of Gibbs' government issued sedan.

"She'll probably know what Jake'll like too." Gibbs commented.

D'Arcy had suggested they meet with Kelly one on one first before they met the other two kids and Gibbs and Jenny had agreed. They drove in comfortable silence until they pulled up in front of the small French restaurant they had decided to meet at.

"You ready for this?" Jenny asked softly when Gibbs made no move to get out of the car.

"What am I supposed to say to her? How do I treat her?" Gibbs asked quietly, his voice sounding strangled.

"Treat her like you'd treat Abby or Ziva, you'll know what to do when you see her, Jethro." Jenny reassured him gently.

Gibbs sighed and nodded before taking a deep breath and getting out of the car, he followed Jenny into the restaurant, his hand resting lightly between her shoulder blades out of sheer habit. His eyes scanned the restaurant until he noticed a teenager with long lightly curled red hair wearing black leggings, a jean button up shirt, white cardigan, floral scarf and brown leather boots standing near a table twisting her hands together. It wasn't until she turned to look at him that he knew for sure, the same bright blue eyes he saw in the mirror everyday stared back at him, telling him everything he needed to know.

Jenny slowed her steps when she felt Gibbs come to a halt beside her and heard him take a shuddering breath, she followed his gaze and realized what had stopped the normally invincible agent. The teenager in front of them was clearly his daughter, her bright blue eyes a dead giveaway, from the pictures she had seen of the late Shannon Gibbs she had gotten her hair and build from her mother, she was petite but slightly taller than Jenny.

"Dad?" She whispered, unable to tear her eyes away from the silver haired man in front of her, she took a step forward and walked into his open arms, wrapping her thin arms around him tightly.

Jenny stood back and stared at the pair with tears in her eyes, Gibbs had his arms wrapped tightly around the teenager and she could tell he was fighting for control in the way his adams apple bobbed as he swallowed repeatedly. She pulled out her phone and quickly got a picture of the two, knowing it would be a memory they would cherish in years to come.

"You're so big." Gibbs whispered when he finally pulled back.

Kelly let out a shaky laugh and brushed at the tears that threatened to spill over, "twelve years'll do that, do you, um wanna sit?" She asked, her nerves once again returning.

"Yeah." Gibbs replied with a nod.

"You must be Jenny Shepard, I'm Kelly." The teen introduced herself when she noticed the older woman standing off to the side.

"Nice to meet you Kelly." Jenny replied with a smile, reaching out to shake the teens hand.

The group moved over to the table where D'Arcy was already seated, waiting to supervise the meeting and sat down with Jenny beside D'Arcy and across from Gibbs who sat beside Kelly.

"So I heard you were able to find a house already." D'Arcy commented, attempting to break the silence, "I must say I'm impressed."

"It worked out that a close friend needed to sell his place and it's the perfect size." Jenny replied, picking up her menu.

"Don't bother Jen, this is where I get the Steak au Poivre you like so much." Gibbs stated when he saw Jenny start to go through the menu.

"I thought the name sounded familiar." Jenny replied with a grin, remembering shared dinners both in the States and in Paris; that dish that had become a staple in their relationship, "I normally only get that when you want something from me." She commented.

Kelly studied the adults in front of her, they hadn't seemed very touchy feely but the easy banter they had going on and the way they were so comfortable with each other suggested they had a relationship of some sort.

"So how did you two meet?" Kelly asked, hoping to get some information out of them.

"We met at work, I started on your dad's team." Jenny replied.

"I googled both of you and I must say that you have pretty impressive resumés." Kelly stated with a grin, "but if you started on his team how did you end up as his boss?"

"You did your research." Jenny commented with a laugh.

"Jen knows how to kiss ass." Gibbs added at the same time.

"What he means is that I can play nice with politicians and sister agencies." Jenny corrected.

"Sure." Gibbs deadpanned.

"What are you getting?" Jenny asked quickly changing the subject.

"Same as you." Gibbs replied, knowing that they would just end up picking off of each others plates like they always did.

"I think I'm just going to get pasta." Kelly stated, closing her menu.

"So what classes are you taking in school Kelly?" Jenny asked once they had given their waitress their orders.

"AP Chemistry, English, Calculus and Gym." Kelly replied, "I guess I'll have to change schools now." She added, not sounding particularly upset.

"If you want to stay where you are we'll find a way to keep you there." Gibbs assured her firmly.

"That's okay, I'm not really attached to my school, I don't have many friends there and I'm pretty used to moving around." Kelly replied.

"That sounds like a pretty heavy course load." Jenny commented, remembering how hard those classes were when she took them in high school.

"It's not bad, I actually wish they were a bit harder, it's not fun if there's no challenge." Kelly responded with a small shrug.

"I looked at the report cards in your file, your grades are impressive to say the least, if you're interested I know the principle of one of the best private schools in the city, with your grades I can guarantee you'll get in and probably get at least a partial scholarship." Jenny offered.

"I can't ask you to do that, even with a partial scholarship that has to be crazy expensive." Kelly argued politely.

"Don't worry about it." Gibbs cut her off, "education is important, if you want to go then we'll make it happen."

"I would love something harder, I just don't want to be an even bigger burden then I already am, I mean you're already taking in two kids who aren't even yours because of me." Kelly reasoned.

"You do what you have to for family." Gibbs stated simply, with a shrug of his shoulders.

"I'm sure you and your wife have your own family to worry about without adding three other kids to the mix." Kelly commented quietly, not wanting her father to change his mind about this but also not wanting him to resent her.

Jenny chuckled quietly, "oh we're not married, we're just friends."

Kelly turned to her with wide eyes and a raised eyebrow, "wait you're not together but you're still going to foster me?"

"You're dad and I are just good friends and he needed help, I've always wanted kids but never had my own so here I am." Jenny explained with as shrug.

"Now's probably a good time for you to ask your father or Jenny any questions you may have Kelly." D'Arcy, who had remained silent up until this point, suggested.

"Okay, well um, where will we live if you two aren't together? Will we have to go back and forth between two places?" Kelly asked hesitantly.

"No, Jenny and I are buying a house together." Gibbs replied.

"It's a gorgeous old, six bedroom victorian style house and a huge property, we bought it from an old friend of ours." Jenny added, thinking about the house, "we thought maybe after supper we could go and you could pick out colours for your room and stuff."

"I'm sure whatever is there is fine." Kelly replied, "I really don't want you to have to spend anything more than you already are on me."

"Don't worry about money, trust me it's really not an issue, we both have well paid jobs and neither of us had anyone to spend money on before, and trust me everything in that house was put there by an old Scottish woman, most of it has to go." Jenny responded with a laugh,"it'll be fun."

"Well alright." Kelly agreed hesitantly.

"Maybe you could help us pick some colours for Jake and Ava's rooms too, we want to surprise them." Jenny suggested.

"Jake likes dark blue and Ava just lights up anytime she sees anything pink." Kelly replied with a small smile, "Jake likes anything western, he loves animals."

"He'll fit right in with your dad, he's a regular old John Wayne." Jenny commented with a laugh as their waitress arrived with their food.

N*C*I*S

Jenny climbed out of Gibbs truck and surveyed the large victorian house in front of her, they had taken Kelly to look at paint samples before D'Arcy took her back to her foster home and then they had gone over to Ducky's house to drop of the paint they had picked out. Ducky had spent the day moving the remainder of his belongings over to his new house and what he couldn't fit there he had left at Gibbs' house, which they had decided not to sell at least for the time being in the event that something happened. Jenny had been serious when she said that most of what was in the house would have to be changed, although it was clean and kept in excellent shape the house reflected the taste of Ducky and his mother and was rather dark and old fashioned for her liking and Gibbs had agreed with her. The team had spent the afternoon striping wallpaper off the wall while Jenny and Gibbs had met with her lawyer about the details of selling her house.

Gibbs had been his usual silent self since dinner but when he thought she wasn't looking he wore a small smile on his face. Although slightly awkward at some points, with no one knowing what to say to each other, the dinner had been a success as far as Jenny was concerned. Kelly seemed like an awesome kid and Gibbs had seemed much more relaxed and content since seeing her.

"Why don't we start painting some now?" Jenny suggested, checking her watch and noting it was only 1930, still relatively early. "We can get Kelly's room done tonight and work on the other kids rooms before the furniture comes."

They had gone and picked out furniture for each of the kids rooms and had chosen to have it delivered to the house late the next afternoon. Gibbs nodded his agreement and followed her up the stairs with the paint cans in hand. Kelly had decided to do one wall in a floral wallpaper and the rest of the room in a pale blue-grey. Her room looked out over the large backyard and had a large window seat where she could sit and read or study.

The pair worked in silence for close to an hour before Gibbs finally spoke.

"She reminds me a lot of Shannon." He commented quietly.

Jenny looked at him in shock, not only had the normally silent man spoken without being spoken to but he had volunteered information about his normally carefully guarded past without being pressed about it. She had no idea how to respond.

"She looks a lot like both of you." She finally replied.

"Shan used to do that thing with her hands when she was nervous too." He reminisced, remembering how his first wife would wind her hands together if she was anxious or upset about something, "what if I screw this up Jen?"

Jenny put down the paint roller she was holding and turned her attention fully on him, "you're not going to screw this up Jethro, I've seen you with kids, you were made to be a father."

"Was that true what ya said about always wanting kids?" He asked after a few moments.

"Yes." She replied with a non-comital shrug.

"Why didn't you?"

"Just was never the right time, after my father died nothing else mattered, kids took a back seat and by the time I started thinking about it again it was too late." She replied quietly.

"It's not too late Jen, you're still young, you should be able to meet someone, get married and have a family." He didn't want to stop her from having that, sure they would have kids but he didn't want her to be stuck with him for the rest of her life when she should be with someone who she loved and wanted to spend her life with.

"I'm thirty eight Jethro, I'm past the point where I'm going to settle down and have kids, I'm happy with the way my life is and besides I'll have Kelly, Jake and Ava now, that's more than enough, as for getting married I don't think that was every in the books for me."

 **Well guys, fourth chapter done, please remember I own nothing it all belongs to DPB! I really love to hear from you guys and reviews are always appreciated! So since I decided to move them there'll have to be a lot of descriptions of rooms and stuff so to make it easier for everyone I created a Pinterest account that you guys can go and look at and see what I'm imagining** **search for StoryGirl in people, the picture is the same as my profile pic on FFN.**

 **~Katie**


	5. Second Guessing

**FIVE**

Abby stood back and studied the living room in front of her, the team had spent the entire day working on painting and cleaning up the house and they were just about done in every important room. The kids rooms had all been finished and were just awaiting the arrival of the furniture, Jenny's room was painted and she had moved in her bed and some of her furniture earlier that day, the living room and dining room had both been painted as well. The living room was painted a pale brown-grey that would match the furniture they had picked out, they had decided to sell Jenny's house furnished so they could start from scratch at the new house and Gibbs' furniture would stay at his house since most of it was worn and outdated anyway.

They had combined Jenny's more modern tastes with Gibbs' more rustic ones to create a rustic chic atmosphere, leaving some touches of the classic victorian style scattered around the house. The dining room was painted a pale blue and they had ordered a large table that would easily seat the entire team as well as the kids. The kitchen had been left as it was since Ducky had recently re-done it to make the house easier to sell, it had been painted grey with white cabinets and black counter tops, a greenish-blue island stood in the centre of the bright room.

Gibbs had insisted on painting and setting up Jenny's office before doing his own room, claiming it didn't matter to him what the previously unused guest room looked like, he didn't say anything but he knew he would spend most nights sleeping on the couch anyway. The bed was too big for one person and he always found himself reaching for another person, when he had slept in a bed after his first wife's death he had found himself reaching for Shannon only to feel like he had been physically punched when she wasn't there; after a few years he had woken up reaching for Jenny and had been just as hurt when she wasn't there, prompting him to spend his nights on the narrow couch instead. The pain in his back nothing compared to the hollow ache that was left when he realized he was alone.

Jenny watched McGee set up her computer in her office located on the second floor of the house, it was a comfortable size, not too big and not too small and it afforded her a quiet place to work away from what was sure to be a loud and busy household. She had painted it a plain cream colour and had kept the room simple and in line with the rustic chic feeling the rest of the house had. She was tired of the dark woods and expensive tastes present at her brownstone and enjoyed the simpler, brighter choices they had made for Ducky's old house, _their house_ she mentally corrected herself. On the walls she hung up pictures of her family, her late father and her sister Heather as well as her niece, Sarah, some of her friends from college were also present on the wall in black and white frames. Eventually she would add some pictures of Kelly, Jake and Ava but for now she had just displayed what she had on hand.

The furniture for her office had been the only thing delivered so far, she had brought her bedroom furniture with her and set it up in her new room that overlooked the front yard, she had wanted to have her belongings moved in so she could start to stay at there instead of going back and forth between the new house and her old house. There were still several little spaces in the house that needed to be done but they had done everything that was important and they had their custody hearing in two days time so they hoped to have the kids home by the coming weekend.

Jenny looked over to the door when she heard a small knock and smiled when she saw Abby standing in the door way giving her a hesitant smile.

"What can I do for you Abby?" The older woman asked, gesturing for the raven haired forensic scientist to enter.

"We were going to order pizza for supper, Gibbs just wanted me to check and make sure that was okay with you." Abby replied, "this looks really nice, who're they?" She asked, gesturing to the picture of Heather and Sarah curled up on the couch, the picture had been take five years earlier when Sarah was only ten.

"My sister Heather and her daughter, Sarah." Jenny responded, smiling fondly at the picture, "That was taken at Christmas five years ago I think."

"They both look like you." Abby commented, "how come we've never met them?"

"They live out in LA and Heather and Jethro have never really seen eye to eye so when she comes to town she steers clear of the Navy Yard." Jenny explained.

"She and Gibbs have met?" Abby asked with a grin, imagining her boss' reaction to the younger red head.

"Yeah, when I was still a probie on his team Heather and Sarah came to see where I was working."

"What's Kelly like?" Abby asked suddenly.

Jenny considered the question for a moment before answering, "smart, she looks a lot like Shannon but she has Jethro's sense of humour, she has his eyes too, you'll like her."

"Is Gibbs still going to have time for us now?" Abby asked quietly, insecurity clear in her voice, "I mean now that he has his real daughter back, and Jake and Ava too."

Jenny turned to look at the Goth and smiled softly at her, Abby may have been a grown woman with a Phd in Biochemistry but when it came to Gibbs and their makeshift family she was still a little girl.

"You will always be important to him Abbs, having more people around doesn't mean that you're losing him, it just means the family is getting bigger again. Like when Ziva came." She assured her softly.

"And when you came." Abby added, "you're part of the family too."

Jenny smiled at her and reached over to gently squeeze Abby's shoulder, "thank you, Abby."

N*C*I*S

Gibbs walked in the front door of the house expecting to find Jenny curled up on the couch with a book or in her new office going over reports. What he had not expected was to find her standing in the kitchen surrounded by a seemingly random assortment of fruits and vegetables, several tupperware containers spread out in front of her, filled with different coloured goo.

"Jen, what're you doing?" He asked, smirking to himself when the red head jumped slightly.

"Making baby food." She replied, glancing up at him for only a second before going back to throwing fruit in the blender.

"Okay, and why are you making baby food?"

"I read that it was better for the baby then the store bought stuff, and you can freeze it." She replied, switching the blender on.

"Where did you read this?" Gibbs asked after the blender had been shut off once again.

"This parenting book I bought, _What to Expect in the first Year,_ I think." She replied, pouring the blended fruit into a tupperware container.

"You bought a parenting book?" Gibbs asked skeptically, "can I ask why?"

"Because unlike you I've never done this before and I have no clue how to take care of an almost fully grown teenager much less a baby." Jenny snapped.

She had spent the day at home putting the finishing touches on the kids rooms and had realized what she had gotten herself into and had been having a minor crisis since then, she had thought she would be okay with it but every single what if, and bad scenario had run through her head in the last six hours and now she was panicking slightly.

"I haven't done this either, Jen." He reminded her gently, "It's been a really long time since I've had a baby and I have no idea what to do with a teenage girl."

Jenny sighed and leaned against the counter, letting her head fall forward, "I'm sorry, I'm just tired and a bit stressed."

"Don't apologize."

"Sign of weakness, I know." She finished for him, "I'm not feeling very strong right now." She admitted quietly.

Gibbs wasn't sure how to respond to her admission, Jenny normally refused to admit any sort of weakness and that she had admitted it now threw him through a loop.

"When was the last time you had more than an hour of sleep?" He asked, walking towards her slowly.

"I honestly don't even remember, I don't have time to sleep Jethro, court's tomorrow morning and I still have a lot to do, and we still have a lot to figure out before those kids come home." She replied, her voice sounding exhausted and defeated.

"What do we need to figure out?" He asked.

"How are we dividing responsibilities? How involved do you want me to be? What about punishments if the need arises? How do we make decisions?"

"Here's what we're going to do, you're going to go and take a bath or a shower and calm down for a few minutes, I'm gonna clean this up and then we can talk, alright?" He ordered gently but firmly.

Jenny just nodded and wiped her hands off once again before leaving the room, deciding it was pointless to argue. Gibbs watched her go before he started gathering up all the dirty dishes to wash them. He and his team had gone back to work for the day so they could all be present during court the next day which had left Jenny at home alone to put the finishing touches on everything, apparently it had also given her time to think.

He cleaned everything up and then looked around the kitchen, they had decided to leave it as it was since Ducky had just redone it to help sell the house, the cabinets were white with black countertops and the island in the middle of the kitchen was a light blue with a black counter top; all of the appliances were relatively new and stainless steel. He gathered up the copious amount of baby food Jenny had made and put it all in the freezer before shutting off the kitchen light and making his way into the living room.

He flipped on a few lamps in the living room before starting a small fire in the white fire place. They had painted the living room a light grey-brown, Jenny had said she hadn't wanted any dark furniture but Gibbs had reasoned that white or anything too light was impractical with young kids so they compromised on a medium grey for the couches and a white and grey area rug, in the middle of the seating area was a white and grey coffee table. There were a few navy blue and white throw pillows as well as a blanket thrown over the couch that added a splash of colour to the room. The highlight of the room though was the old white brick fire place with the dark brown mantle. The house was still relatively void of any personal touches, neither Gibbs nor Jenny were big knickknack people and neither had a copious amount of photographs laying around to hang up either, although it was relatively bare of any personal touches the living room still felt warm and welcoming.

Gibbs settled back on the couch after starting the fire and waited patiently for Jenny to rejoin him. Twenty minutes later she walked in wearing black yoga pants, a green t-shirt with her damp hair back in a french braid, looking slightly more relaxed than before. She settled on the couch across from him, tucking her feet under her body and enjoying the warmth the fire place was offering, even though it was only the beginning of September the nights had begun to get cool.

"What do you want to talk about?" Gibbs finally asked, deciding it was best to let her steer the direction of the conversation.

Jenny thought about it for a moment before responding, "how involved do you want me to be?"

"What do you mean?" Gibbs asked, unsure what she meant.

"How involved do you want me to be in the kids lives, Kelly in particular."

"All the kids are equal, Kelly shouldn't get treated any differently because she biologically mine." Gibbs stated firmly, "as for how involved that's up to you Jen."

"I don't want to butt in on your turf, how do we decide on punishments and rules and stuff like that?" Jenny asked.

"We're doing this together, as a team, fifty-fifty split." He replied with a shrug, "we'll decide on those things together."

"And what if we disagree?" Jenny asked practically.

"Then we do what we always do when we disagree, we figure it out, except this time no going behind each others backs, we decided together."

"You do realize that's going to require you to actually speak." She pointed out sarcastically.

"It also means no one gets to run, it's not just us anymore." He reminded her.

"I'm in this for the long haul Jethro… I know what it's like to not have a family, and I don't want those kids to have to know what that feels like." She admitted quietly.

"You'll be a good mom Jen."

"I can be someone for them to talk to and go to when they need something but I don't think I can ever be a mom Jethro, I'm not cut out for that, I wouldn't even know how to try." She replied with a shrug, her mother had left when she was only eight so she'd never really had a female role model growing up and she had no idea what a good mom was even supposed to be like.

Gibbs only knew vague details about Jenny's life growing up but he knew her mother had left when she'd been young and he knew it was something that had always bothered her.

"You're already a better mom than yours ever was, you're here Jen, you're stepping up when no one else did." He reminded her gently.

He knew it would be a long and hard road but he also knew that they would make this work, even if it killed both of them.

 **And I know I'm about twenty minutes late on the whole one update a day thing but here's todays, maybe yesterdays(?) Chapter! Remember I own nothing but I love to hear from you!**

 **Thank you guys so much!**


	6. A New Beginning

**SIX**

Jenny studied her outfit in the full length mirror standing in her room, she had on a black knee length skirt a ruffled navy blue blouse and a black blazer paired with black heels. They would be leaving for court in twenty minutes, the team was going to meet them there to provide support for both Jenny and Gibbs.

Gibbs pulled at his tie and grumbled to himself, he hated the damn thing and couldn't wait to get it off, settling it back in its place he knocked lightly on Jenny's bedroom door and waited for her muffled 'come in' before he opened the door and carefully stepped in. His eyes scanned around the room, she had painted the walls a light grey, her white wooden bed was centred on the far right wall, light grey rustic bedside tables sat on each side, across from her bed centred on the opposite wall was a light grey wooden dresser with a full length mirror leaning in the corner. Jenny stood in front of the mirror, her red hair curled loosely and hanging to her shoulders, he let his eyes scan over her fitted black suit and admired how it made her vibrant hair pop.

"Did you need something, Jethro?" She asked, turing around as she put in a black pearl earring.

"Wanted to see if you were ready." He replied, once again tugging on his tie.

Jenny rolled her eyes and crossed the room before swatting his hand out of the way so she could properly fix his tie, loosening it enough so it was comfortable for him but still looked good.

"Thanks." He mumbled, "ya look nice." He added, giving her one more once over.

"Thanks, you don't look too bad yourself." Jenny replied, eyeing his black suit, white shirt and navy blue tie, she quickly stepped back when she realized how close she was still standing, "I'll be ready in about five minutes, I just want to go through the kids rooms one more time."

Gibbs nodded, wanting to tell her she had already done it six times that morning but decided that if it helped calm her down it wasn't really hurting anyone to let her do it again. He doubted she had slept at all the night before, he knew he hadn't, he had stayed awake staring at the ceiling in the living room for most of the night.

N*C*I*S

Kelly looked out over the court room from her spot at the front, she noticed the usual crowd of social workers but she was really interested in the mixed matched group sitting on the other side of the room. Two men in their early thirties sat in the front row, both wearing black suits with a woman on either side of them, one of the women had darker skin and was wearing a dark blue skirt and a white blouse her long dark brown hair pulled back in a braid. The woman on the other side of the group had her black hair up in two knots on the top of her head, she was wearing a black sweater with a high neck, and black pants; beside her was an older man wearing black pants, a white shirt, maroon suspenders and a maroon bowtie.

Kelly looked down on the bench beside her where Ava was sound asleep in her carrier, oblivious to the events of the day, on her other side Jake sat in dark pants, a blue button up shirt and a small black tie. He was more aware of what was happening and was fiddling nervously with his tie, they both turned around when they heard the doors opening and saw Jenny and Gibbs walk in. The former was leading the way while Gibbs walked slightly behind her, his hand resting on her lower back. They both gave Kelly a small wave before taking there seats across the aisle from her.

N*C*I*S

Jenny stood back and held the baby carrier as she watched Gibbs unlock the front door of the house, she knew this was a moment he never dreamed he would have, the moment he'd get to bring his daughter home again. The team had said a quick hello to Kelly and the other kids before heading home, wanting to give the new family space and time to adjust to their new situation.

"This is a really nice house." Kelly commented, looking around the large well kept yard.

"I thought after supper we could go for a walk around the property, your dad and I haven't really had a chance to explore yet." Jenny suggested, shifting the baby carrier.

"This is all yours?" Jake asked in awe, his blue eyes wide "it's so big."

"There's lots of room to play," Gibbs agreed, opening the door and stepping aside to let the small group enter ahead of him. "As long as you tell Jen or I where you're going you can go out whenever you want."

"Maybe I could build a fort somewhere." Jake mused out loud, a look of excitement crossing his face.

"You don't want to mess up their yard Jake." Kelly reminded him gently.

"Actually I thought we could build a tree house or something." Gibbs interrupted, "what's the point of having a big yard if you don't use it?"

"Really a tree house? Could I help build it?" Jake asked excitedly.

"Wouldn't do it without you." Gibbs replied, ruffling his straight brown hair, grinning at the boys excitement.

Jenny placed the baby carrier down at her feet and smiled at how relaxed and at ease Gibbs looked chatting with the ten year old, Kelly was standing in the entranceway trying to discreetly look around the corner to check out the next room.

"You can look around Kelly, it's your house too." Jenny said quietly, giving the girl a reassuring smile.

Kelly nodded and blushed at being caught trying to look around.

"Why don't we show you your rooms and then you can both explore the house." Gibbs suggested, "and we'll work on some lunch while you look."

"What does everyone want to eat?" Jenny asked.

"I'm sure whatever you make will be good." Kelly replied, not wanting to make Jenny do any more work then she had to, "I can even make lunch."

"Today you both just relax and get the lay of the land, how does grilled cheese and soup sound for lunch? It's not really fancy but we're having a big supper." Jenny suggested, "and it's already 1300, one o'clock," she corrected herself, "so this way we'll be hungry for supper."

"I love grilled cheese!" Jake exclaimed happily.

"Sounds good to me." Kelly agreed with a nod.

"Alright now that that's settled why don't we head upstairs and show you your rooms." Jenny suggested, once again picking up the baby carrier, which she was quickly beginning to hate, it was heavy and awkward to carry but she didn't want to admit in front of the kids that she had no idea how to get Ava out of the carrier.

Gibbs noticed Jenny struggling to balance the carrier and motioned for her to put it down, once she had placed it on the floor he wordlessly unbuckled the strawberry blonde baby who stared up at him with curious green eyes. He settled her in his arms before motioning for Jenny to lead the way upstairs.

Jake stood in awe as he stared at his room, it was a light grey on three walls but the wall opposite the door was a navy blue with what looked like old boards across it, his bed sat in the centre of that wall with a dark blue and white comforter, in the right hand corner of the room was a white and black teepee set up next to a white book shelf that already had a few toys and books on it. The floor was hardwood but there was a large white shag rug in that corner as well as an orange beanbag chair. On the other side of the room was his closet a white wooden dresser and his laundry basked, over his laundry basket was a rustic looking basket ball net.

"This is so cool! Thank you so much!" He exclaimed running into the room to look around.

Gibbs stepped into the room and placed the medium sized suitcase the child had brought with him down on the bed.

"Why don't you look around and set things up a bit okay? Kelly's room is right across the hall and Ava's is right beside yours." Gibbs suggested.

"Okay! This is so cool!" Jake exclaimed once again as he crawled into the teepee hat Jenny had set up with Abby's help.

The remainder of the group stepped across the hall and into Kelly's room, they had painted it a pale blueish grey on three of the walls, on the fourth wall was a floral wallpaper, on that wall, on the left hand side of the room, sat Kelly's rustic looking wooden double bed. Jenny had draped small lights over the head board and had picked out a simple white, ruffled bed spread with a sea foam blue throw to add a bit of colour. On the right side of the room sat a rustic looking desk with a white cushioned chair pushed up to it, above the desk Jenny and put up a board that was half chalk board and half cork board. On either side of the desk was a book shelf that matched the bed and desk. The wall opposite the door housed a large window seat that Jenny had scattered cushions and pillows over so the teen would have a spot to read or just relax.

"This is amazing." Kelly breathed in awe.

"I didn't know what you liked to read so I put a few of my favourite books from high school on the shelf, I figured you could add your own favourites to it, I don't know if D'Arcy told you but I called my friend at that private school I told you about and you got in… On a full scholarship." She added with a grin.

The teen looked absolutely shocked, "are you serious?" She asked with a gasp.

"I've never been more serious in my life." Jenny replied with a grin.

"Oh my gosh…. That is so awesome, thank you both so so much!"

Gibbs watched Jenny stiffen in surprise when the excited teen rushed over to her and wrapped her in a large hug, the older red head quickly relaxed though and wrapped her arms around the teen, it wasn't long before Gibbs was quickly passing the baby over to Jenny so he could accept a hug from his daughter.

"You're welcome." Jenny replied with a laugh, "why don't you take some time to unpack and explore and your dad and I will go get some lunch ready."

Kelly nodded and watched both adults leave, Ava happily settled on Jenny's hip and chewing on her fist. She took a deep breath and tried to calm her racing heart, it had been a whirlwind of a day for her, from the anxiety of court to meeting the large group of people that had accompanied her parents to moving to a new place. She had done her research on both Jenny and Gibbs, more out of curiosity than anything and had found both similarities and difference to what she had read. Gibbs was relatively silent but she could see how he had won so many awards, he was a model marine and Agent and so far a pretty good father. But some of the interviews she had read about Jenny couldn't have been more wrong, she was as poised and elegant as all the magazines had said she was but she wasn't cold and distant she seemed warm and welcoming, if a bit nervous and unsure of herself. She had only known these people for a little over a week but so far she felt like this would work.

 **Well guys, sixth chapter done, please remember I own nothing it all belongs to DPB! I really love to hear from you guys and reviews are always appreciated! Sorry for such a long wait, some things happened this past week and real life knocked me on my ass… Thank you guys so much for your patience, just out of curiosity has anybody checked out my pinterest? I just want to make sure it's working if that's something you guys want to use!**

 **Thanks again!**

 **~Katie**


	7. Of Bullet Proof Vests and Baby Carriers

**SEVEN**

Jenny stood in front of Ava's crib and tried to adjust the baby carrier that sat over her chest, it had been a gift from Tony, she had suspected it had been his way to try to make a joke but they were about to take a walk around the property to explore and this seemed like the easiest way to carry Ava long distances. They had spent the afternoon unpacking and letting the kids explore the house before enjoying Gibbs' signature steaks for dinner and now they were going for a walk to work off supper. The house sat on six acres of land, although the vast majority of it was forest, Gibbs and Jenny hadn't had a chance to look around yet so they had decided it would be a fun way to get the kids out and exercising before bed.

"What're you wearing?" Gibbs' voice startled Jenny out of her thoughts.

When she turned around it was to find him leaning against the doorway to the nursery an eyebrow raised and a smug grin on his face, Ava was settled happily on his hip chewing on her fist.

"I didn't want to have to worry about carrying her, Tony bought it." Jenny replied with a shrug, rolling her eyes at his grin, "if you want you can wear it."

"Don't think it'll fit." He replied smartly, eyeing the way it fit her petite frame perfectly.

"It's adjustable." She shot back.

"Think I'll let you try it first, if your back gets sore tell me and I'll carry her." He offered, helping her settle the baby into the carrier so Ava was facing away from Jenny, her back resting firmly against the older woman's chest.

"She's not too heavy, weighs less then a bullet proof vest." Jenny replied.

"There's a reason you never wore your vest in the field." Gibbs muttered, helping Jenny do up the last strap.

"It took away from my figure?" She deadpanned.

"Made your back hurt." Gibbs muttered, he'd always liked seeing her in a vest, reminded him that she could be feminine and still kick ass at the same time.

"Are you guys ready to go?" Jake asked, bounding into the nursery excitedly.

"Jake, relax, don't rush them," an exasperated Kelly scolded lightly as she followed him into the room, "sorry, he's a bit excited."

"But I've waited all day, I want to explore!" Jake exclaimed.

Gibbs let out a small laugh and ruffled the boys hair, "come on, let's go, remember to keep an eye out for a good spot to build a tree house."

Jenny rested her hands over Ava's stomach and followed the group outside, the leaves had started changing colour in the last few days, scattered among the usual green was hints of yellows and reds. The backyard had several flower gardens that still had late flowers blooming in them, Jenny was excited to try her hand at gardening, her old house didn't have a lot of space and she had never taken the time to even try it. They walked to the edge of the manicured yard and into the forested area, Jenny watched as Jake excitedly darted around between the trees looking for the perfect place to build a tree house. So far the boy had been relatively happy, a bit shy or timid at times but otherwise out going and happy, Jenny couldn't quite place what made him shy or apprehensive but she was determined to figure it out.

"So is it you or my dad that plays the piano?" Kelly asked, walking along side Jenny while the boys walked ahead.

Jenny looked at Kelly with confusion written on her face, "I play a bit, why?" She had no idea how Kelly would have known that.

"I found an old upright grand piano in a room at the back of the house, I wasn't trying to snoop or anything." She quickly started to apologize.

"It's your house Kel, the only things that are off limits are my desk drawers and the drawers in any bedroom that's not yours, and that's just because of privacy, I didn't even know there was a piano, I haven't played in close to a year."

"Who's piano is it if it's not my dads and it's not yours?" Kelly asked.

"Must have been Ducky's, the doctor you met today he was the one with the bow tie. Your dad and I bought the house off of him." Jenny explained, "do you play?"

"Yeah, I took lessons from when I was six until last year." Kelly replied.

"Why'd you stop?" Jenny asked.

"I didn't really have time for it with school and helping with the kids." She replied with a shrug.

"Well I'll talk to Ducky and see if he'd mind you using the piano, I know Palmer can tune it for you if it needs it. He's Ducky's assistant, he had to stay at the office today, you'll like him." Jenny explained.

"I don't want to bother anyone, he's probably busy." Kelly responded.

"You're not bothering anyone, actually I wouldn't mind trying the old thing out, it's been awhile, you should talk to Tony and Ziva they both play too."

"Tony plays the piano?" Kelly asked skeptically, remembering the obvious playboy from earlier that day.

Jenny chuckled and shook her head slightly, "there is a lot more to Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo than meets the eye, he's a bit unorthodox but trust me he has a heart of gold and from what I hear he's a pretty amazing musician."

"You've never heard him play?" Kelly questioned.

"No, I haven't spent a lot of time outside of work with your dad's team, Ziva and I worked together for two years so I know her pretty well and Abby is pretty open but Tony is a wildcard, and McGee is pretty quiet."

"Yeah, I got that." Kelly replied thoughtfully, remembering the timid young man.

They continued to walk in silence, weaving around the trees until they made their way to a large clearing.

"Check it out!" Jake exclaimed, pointing at the large pond in front of them, "do you think you could swim in there?" He asked Gibbs.

Gibbs surveyed the water and nodded slightly, "looks pretty deep, might be spring fed, would probably be muddy though." He added.

"Muddy's fun!" Jake stated.

"Spoken like a true boy." Kelly muttered, "there's probably leeches." She added with a shudder.

"Probably." Jenny agreed quietly, letting a small shudder run through her at the thought of the slimy creatures, "or snakes." She added.

"It's too cold to swim now but maybe next summer we can check it out." Gibbs reasoned.

"We'll still be here next summer?" Jake asked, his eyes wide and hopeful.

"Jake." Kelly warned quietly.

"Where else would you be?" Gibbs asked at the same time.

"Well we normally don't stay in the same home for more than a few months." Jake replied with a shrug, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

Jenny felt her heart break a little bit at the idea that this child thought it was normal to bounce around to different houses every few months.

"You'll still be here next summer." Jenny replied firmly.

"Promise?"Jake asked.

Jenny glanced over the boy's head to Gibbs who only stared back at her, "I promise." Jenny replied not taking her eyes off Gibbs.

They stared at each other for a moment longer before Gibbs cleared his throat, "why don't we head back, you can bath then we'll watch a movie." He suggested, tearing his eyes away from Jenny.

"Baths are for girls." Jake stated firmly.

"I take baths." Gibbs replied, although to be fair it was only when he had just been shot and wasn't allowed to shower or when his shoulder or knee was bothering him.

Jake seemed to think this over for a moment before Gibbs spoke up again, "or you can shower, don't really care as long as you're clean."

"Shower please." Jake decided.

"Alright, while you shower Gibbs and I are going to check and see what you have for clothes and school supplies so we know what we need to get when we go shopping tomorrow so you're ready for school Monday." Jenny told him.

"Do I have to go shopping? I'm big enough to stay home, and besides I thought you said the school was uniform." Jake pointed out.

"We thought that after we went shopping tomorrow we'd go out for lunch and maybe ice cream or do something fun." Gibbs said, ignoring the idea of Jake staying home alone, "I don't like shopping either but I need some stuff for work so I have to go."

"Can I pick out what you buy?" Jenny asked smirking.

"Absolutely not, don't need to be lookin' like DiNozzo at the office." Gibbs grumbled, just imagining what she would pick for him.

"The school is uniform Jake, but you still need clothes to wear at home and school supplies and you need to try on the uniform pieces to make sure they fit." Jenny replied to Jake's earlier statement, completely ignoring Gibbs' comment.

Jake would be going to the same school as Kelly, it went from Kindergarten up to grade twelve but the Elementary, Junior high, and High school were all in different buildings. Jake only nodded, deciding not to argue it as they came up to the house and walked in through the back door off the kitchen.

"Go take your shower Jake, there're towels on your bed, when your done we'll watch a movie." Gibbs instructed, helping Jenny take Ava out of her carrier, noticing how the older woman rolled her shoulders with a wince after the baby's weight had been removed, "told ya to tell me when she got heavy." He muttered.

"I'm fine, do you want to take a bath or shower now or would you rather wait Kelly?" Jenny asked, "it's completely up to you."

"I think I'll wait until after if that's okay, that way I can go right to bed after." Kelly replied.

"Well I'm going to put on something more comfortable if we're going to be watching a movie, do we even have kids movies?" Jenny asked, pausing in the doorway between the kitchen and dining room.

"DiNozzo and Abby dropped off their favourites." Gibbs replied, thinking about the large box of Disney and Pixar movies the two had brought into work the previous day, "we have more than enough."

Jenny nodded before heading up the stairs, silently thanking Tony and Abby for thinking ahead. Neither she nor Gibbs were big movie people but of course Abby and Tony had thought about entertainment for the kids. Jenny entered her room and pulled on a pair of black yoga pants and a comfortable yellow t-shirt, glad to be out of her jeans, after she was dressed she made her way down the hall to Jake's room to go through and see what he needed for clothes and other things.

After sorting through his clothes she had decided that most of the clothing he owned was worn out or would be too small soon, he would need quite a few new things. She had gone through Ava's things as she had unpacked them earlier that afternoon and had come to the same conclusion for the baby. Deciding she had better check to see what Kelly would need she made her way across the hall and knocked lightly on the teen's door, waiting until a soft hello was called out before entering.

"I just wanted to see what you needed for clothes and stuff." She explained as she walked into the room to find the teen spread out on her bed, a book open in front of her.

Kelly placed her book mark in her book and closed it, sitting up and placing it on her bedside table, "I'm okay for clothes, I might need some stuff for school though." Kelly replied apprehensively.

Jenny had figured out that for the most part Kelly was happy and relatively talkative, always choosing her words carefully though, except when it came to asking for something or discussing anything that she may need then she became reserved and shy.

"Your brother and sister need quite a bit for clothes, are you sure you have enough?" Jenny asked gently, not wanting to push Kelly but also wanting to make sure she had everything she needed.

"Maybe a new pair of pants and a sweater wouldn't hurt." Kelly admitted quietly.

"Would you mind if I take a look?" Jenny asked, "I'm not trying to embarrass you or intrude, I just want to make sure you have everything you need."

Kelly nodded and gestured to her closet giving the older redhead permission to look.

"You know, you're Dad has a set of rules, they cover pretty much everything, rule number 28 is if you need help, ask." Jenny stated as she scanned the relatively empty drawers, "we're here to help you Kelly." She reminded the teen softly, "asking for help, it's not a crime every once in awhile everyone needs it, even your Dad and I."

"I just don't want to be a burden, I know how expensive kids are and I'd rather the money go towards Jake and Ava, I can get a job and buy my own stuff." Kelly replied.

"Money's not an issue, you're father and I make decent money and we haven't spent very much over the last ten years, most of it is sitting in the bank, you let us worry about money you get to be a kid right now. If you want to get a job so you can have extra money to go out or buy little extras that's up to you but we will provide what you need."

Kelly nodded and watched Jenny close her drawer and step away from the closet.

"Why don't you throw on some PJ's and we'll go watch a movie." The older woman suggested, not commenting on the relatively empty dresser and closet .

Downstairs Gibbs lit a small fire in the fire place in the den before settling down on the large sectional, checking on Ava who was strapped into the bouncy chair they had gotten her.

"Why don't you pick out a movie that everyone'll like?" Gibbs suggested when Kelly walked into the room wearing dark blue and grey plaid PJ bottoms and a grey t-shirt.

Kelly nodded and began sifting through the box, finally deciding on a DVD that had several cartoon animals depicted on the front, a minute later Jake came bounding into the room wearing plain grey PJ bottoms and a matching long sleeve shirt follow by Jenny who was carrying three large bowls of popcorn.

"What're we watching?" Jake asked, flopping down on the far end of the couch, accepting a bowl of popcorn from Jenny.

"Madagascar." Kelly replied, placing the DVD in the player sitting over the fire place.

Gibbs settled back on the couch accepting the last bowl of popcorn from Jenny who sat down beside him, stretching her legs out on the longer side of the sectional. Kelly sat down on his other side resting her feet on the coffee table, a bowl of popcorn balanced in her lap.

"You don't want any?" Gibbs asked quietly, nodding to the bowl in his lap.

"I'll just share with you." She replied with a shrug, "wouldn't be the first time."

Gibbs nodded and watched as Kelly pressed play on the movie.

Jenny looked around the den area, they had decided to keep the living room free of a TV, leaving it as somewhere to visit, instead they had turned the old library into a den, leaving in the white built in book shelfs, putting the few board games and movies they owned on them instead of actual books. The room had a large fire place on the back centre wall which they had mounted the TV over, the had placed the sectional as well as a brown arm chair around it along with a grey coffee table to put food and drinks on. Behind the sectional they had set up a table that the kids could draw at or play games on and that could be used for the adults to play poker when they had their team poker nights, they had painted the room a light grey that made the furniture pop.

Gibbs watched the movie silently, finding himself surprisingly amused by the antics of the zoo animals on screen, occasionally Jenny would shift beside him bringing his attention back to her, he enjoyed the goofy little grin on her face as she watched the movie. All in all they had had a successful first day.

 **Well guys, seventh chapter done, please remember I own nothing it all belongs to DPB! I really love to hear from you guys and reviews are always appreciated! Sorry for such a long wait again, real life is still knocking me on my ass… Thank you guys so much for your patience!**

 **~Katie**


	8. Meeting the Family

**EIGHT**

Jenny finished cutting up the last tomato in front of her, they had decided to invite the team over for one last barbecue before the weather turned cold, it was starting to get chilly even during the day now and most time outside required a sweater or light jacket. Kelly was upstairs reading one of the books Jenny had bought for her earlier that morning, Ava was down for a nap while Gibbs and Jake were outside playing a game of catch, it was already 1430 and the team was set to arrive around 1500. The morning had been a busy one and had exhausted Jenny to her core, she was on her sixth cup of coffee for the day and was fighting to stay awake. She was used to long meetings and late nights but having to run around after three kids, even one who was almost an adult and one who couldn't even walk yet was even more exhausting; all of a sudden she had a massive respect for mothers with large families.

So far everyone had settled in well, Jake had bonded with Gibbs almost immediately and followed the older man around whenever he could, Kelly was enjoying getting to know her father and being back in his life. Jenny was still adjusting to thinking about four other people before herself, she was getting used to having other people constantly around but was still constantly worrying about how she would handle being back at work, and how she would deal with it if something were to happen to any of the kids or Gibbs. She knew that it wouldn't always be as easy as the the last day and a half had been she knew there would be bumps and curveballs along the way, she just wasn't sure she would know how to handle it when it did happen. She sighed and leaned against the counter, resting her head in her hands.

When Gibbs walked into the kitchen it was to find Jenny leaning heavily against the counter her arms folded and her forehead resting on them, he immediately felt panic rising in his chest as he reached forward to rest a hand in the middle of her back.

"Are you okay Jen?" He asked quietly, immediately drawing his hand away from her when she jumped.

Jenny sighed when she realized that it was only Gibbs, "I'm fine, just a bit tired, it's been a long two days."

"Why don't you go lay down for a bit." He suggested gently, silently cursing when the doorbell rang, "or not." He muttered.

"If you finish this up I'll go and get the door." Jenny offered, wiping her hands on a tea towel and tucking her hair back behind her ear.

Abby bounced on her heels, waiting for someone to open the door for her, she hadn't planned on showing up early but she had forgotten that Ducky's house was closer to her apartment, _no Gibbs and Jenny's house,_ she mentally corrected herself just as the door was opened to reveal Jenny standing on the other side in a pair of dark wash jeans and a white long sleeve shirt, her hair straight and loose around her shoulders.

"Hi!" Abby exclaimed, smiling widely at Jenny, "sorry I'm early, well not sorry since we're not supposed to apologize but you know what I mean, I forgot that this place was closer to my apartment than Gibbs' house."

Jenny quirked an eyebrow and grinned as she stepped out of the way and let the excited goth in.

"Where're the kids? Where's Gibbs?" Abby asked, removing her black cape jacket and handing it to Jenny who had her arm outstretched.

"Ava is napping, Kelly is reading in her room and Jake and Gibbs are outside I think." Jenny replied, hanging up Abby's jacket in the foyer closet.

"Can I go up and see Kelly?" Abby asked.

"Just be quiet okay? I want the baby to sleep until at least 1500." Jenny replied, watching as Abby nodded and took off up the stairs.

Jenny was just about to go back into the kitchen when once again the doorbell rang, she turned back around and pulled the door open to find Ducky standing on the other side, a bottle of what looked like bourbon in one hand and a bouquet of assorted fall flowers in the other.

"Hello my dear," the old doctor greeted warmly, stepping in to what had once been his house, he looked around him at all of the changes and smiled fondly, the old place had been changed but he liked the younger slightly more modern feel it had been given. "The house looks lovely," he stated, handing her both the flowers and the bottle, "I know it is customary to bring wine but I figured you and Jethro would enjoy something a bit stronger."

"Thank you, Doctor Mallard." Jenny replied with a small smile on her face, she watched as the man hung his own jacket in the closet before turning back to her.

"How are you doing, Jennifer?" He asked, eyeing her carefully.

He could see the exhaustion behind her eyes but he could also see something there he hadn't seen in a very long time, a small spark of happiness.

"I'm tired," Jenny responded after thinking about it for a second, "but I'm good." She added, allowing a small smile to escape, "the kids are settling in really well."

"I am most glad to hear that my dear, and how is Jethro handling things?" Ducky asked.

"I think he wishes he had his boat here, but so far he's doing okay." She replied, "I don't think he's sleeping in his room though." She admitted softly.

"That is nothing new, I can't remember the last time I found him sleeping somewhere other than the couch, under his boat or at his desk." Ducky replied with a small shrug, it wasn't healthy for the man and he didn't like it but he had accepted it for what it was.

Jenny was about to respond when Abby came down the stairs, Ava tucked in her arms and Kelly following close behind, Jenny sighed checking her watch, only 1440.

"I swear I didn't wake her up!" Abby promised seeing the slightly defeated look on Jenny's face.

"I heard her wake up about ten minutes ago," Kelly interrupted, "I changed her for you and put her in the outfit you had laid out on her changing table, I hope that's okay."

Jenny smiled and nodded, "that's fine, thank you." She replied, looking at the baby who was sucking on her fist, Kelly had dressed her in a simple grey dress with pink, white and grey patterned leggings. "You look nice too by the way." She added, "I like your hair like that."

Kelly herself had her hair pulled back in a loose french braid, tendrils falling around her face, a white knit sweater and dark blue jeans.

"Thanks." Kelly replied, blushing slightly as she looked down at her outfit, one she had agonized over for at least half an hour, unsure of what to wear for this type of gathering, "hi Doctor Mallard."

"Please call me Ducky my dear." Ducky replied, smiling kindly at the teenager.

"Sorry, Ducky." Kelly corrected with a grin, "can I ask about where that name came from?"

"Well it was an unfortunate childhood nickname that stuck." Ducky replied, giving the short version he knew pretty much everyone preferred.

"I'd love to hear the story behind it sometime." Kelly stated eagerly.

"Well if you'd like to hear it I'll gladly tell you, most people prefer the short version of the story, why don't we go into the living room." Ducky suggested, continuing to talk as he lead Kelly away.

Abby grinned and shook her head, "that poor girl is never going to have a minute of peace now." She stated, shifting Ava in her arms, "she's so cute." She stated looking down at the baby, looking up at Jenny with slight panic in her eye when she began to fuss softly, "I didn't do anything, I swear."

"It's fine, she's probably just hungry she wouldn't take a bottle before her nap." Jenny explained, Gibbs had been the one to put her down but despite his best efforts he couldn't convince her to have a bottle, "it's probably why she woke up so early."

"Look at you sounding all momish." Abby said with a small grin, "you wanna go see Mommy?" She cooed, handing the baby over to Jenny.

Jenny managed to keep her face blank at Abby's use of the word Mommy, she and Gibbs hadn't discussed what the kids would call them, Ava couldn't talk and Kelly just called them Dad and Jenny and now that she thought of it Jake just didn't call them anything. It was probably a talk they needed to have but it would have to wait until at least later that night, what she also didn't tell Abby was that she had next to no idea what she was talking about, it was Gibbs who had told her that Ava would probably want a bottle upon waking up.

"Does she only have bottles?" Abby asked, following Jenny into the kitchen.

"No she'll have some baby food when we have supper later, she likes baby cereal for breakfast." Jenny replied, calling to mind Gibbs' lesson on how to make a bottle as she mixed the formula before carefully heating it.

"Why don't you microwave it?" Abby questioned, curious about what she was watching.

"It heats unevenly." Jenny replied, having asked the same question the day before, "it could get too hot that way."

"Do you think that maybe," Abby hesitated for a moment, "could I maybe feed her? I promise I'll be careful."

Jenny nodded and handed Ava back to her, showing her how to hold her before handing her the now warm bottle. She watched as the scientist carefully took a seat at the kitchen table before beginning to feed the baby. Jenny took the free moment to check out the back window where she could see Gibbs and Jake tossing a ball back in forth, Tony and McGee must have arrived sometime in the last couple of minutes because they were out there with them eagerly joining in the game.

"Are you okay if I run upstairs really quickly?" Jenny asked, "I just want to change my shirt." She stated looking down at the light shirt she now realized was stained with tomato.

"Of course, I can call Gibbs or Kelly if I need something, take your time." Abby replied happily.

Abby had just finished feeding the baby when Jenny reappeared to find her and Ziva, who had arrived two minutes prior talking in the kitchen, Ava now happily sitting in Abby's lap. Jenny had changed into a pair of dark wash jeans, a loose black t-shirt and a black and grey stripped cardigan, something much more relaxed than she had ever worn in front of the team but she was too tired to care about looking professional in her own house.

"Hello, Ziva." She greeted, kissing her old friend and partner on the cheek.

"Hello, Jenny." Ziva replied, she was always professional at work, calling Jenny, Director but they had an understanding that outside of work they were no longer Director Shepard and Officer David, simply Ziva and Jenny.

Things had been tense between them after Tony's car had blown up and he had been presumed dead, but it had been four months since the end of the La Grenouille incident, if it could ever really end, and they had slowly begun to mend fences. Jenny and Tony were slowly getting back on friendly terms, and with that Ziva had started to accept her back as a friend as well. It was a long way from the way things used to be but it was slowly getting better.

"I made a potato salad and a macaroni salad, I know they are Gibbs' favourite, they are in the fridge." Ziva replied, waving her fingers at Ava who was looking up at her with wide green eyes, "did she sleep through the night?" She asked nodding at the baby.

"She slept through until 0500 but we were both up anyway." Jenny replied, she had been surprised that the baby had slept through but it wouldn't have mattered if she had been awake, Jenny hadn't slept at all and she had a suspicion Gibbs hadn't either.

"How are Jake and Kelly adjusting?" Ziva asked, glancing out the window.

"Both seem to be doing well, we'll see how this week goes with them starting at a new school though." Jenny replied, opening the fridge to see the large bowls of salad Ziva had brought before opening the freezer to take out a small container of baby food so it would be thawed in time for supper.

"How was shopping this morning?" Ziva asked.

"Shopping with a seven year old and a baby is a completely different experience." Jenny replied with a small chuckle, it hadn't been unpleasant so much as more hectic than she was used to, "everyone was really well behaved I'm just not used to having that many people in tow."

"Shopping with a baby was always much more difficult than going on my own." Ziva agreed with a small smile, thinking about her little sister whom she had raised after her mother had died only month after she was born. "Treasure it, it will be over much sooner than you think, one minute she is a baby and the next you will be taking her to dance classes and then watching her leave on her first date." She added with a sad smile.

Jenny nodded and smiled softly at the baby still happily sitting in Abby's lap, her small hand wrapped firmly around one of Abby's pigtails a delighted grin on her face.

 **Well guys, seventh chapter done, please remember I own nothing it all belongs to DPB! I really love to hear from you guys and reviews are always appreciated! Sorry for such ridiculously long wait again, real life is still knocking me on my ass… Thank you guys so much for your patience! Again I am so so sorry!**

 **~Katie**


	9. Settling In

**Nine**

Jenny looked down at the baby sleeping in her arms, she was seated in the den enjoying some silence. Gibbs' team including Abby and Ducky had gone home an hour and a half before. Gibbs had helped Jenny to bath the baby before he had gone over to his old house to pick up a few things, Kelly in tow, Jake was upstairs taking a shower. She let her head tilt back and rest against the back of the couch, the afternoon had gone well, there had been a few tense moments but they had quickly been diffused by a comment from Abby, Ducky or one of the kids who didn't even realize that they were diffusing the situation.

Things between Jenny and Tony were still rocky but they were slowly getting back to some version of their old friendship, it would never be the way it had once been and Jenny knew that but she was glad things seemed to at least be getting a bit better. She was broken out of her thoughts when she heard Jake running down the stairs, she smiled as she watched him flop onto the couch in his new Spider Man pyjama's, his wet brown hair sticking up every which way.

"Have you decided what you want to watch?" She asked quietly.

"Tony said Mulan was funny." Jake replied, rolling off the couch to look at the shelf of Disney and Pixar movies, "but maybe we could save that to watch with Kelly, can we watch Cars?" He asked holding out the DVD.

"Sure, can you reach the DVD player to put it in?" Jenny asked, picking up the remote from where it sat beside her to open the DVD tray.

Jake nodded and carefully placing the DVD in the player before climbing back onto the couch next to Jenny.

"May I have some popcorn please?" He asked, looking at Jenny with comically large brown eyes.

Jenny thought about it for a moment before nodding, "just let me put your sister in her crib and then I'll make it." She replied, making sure the movie was playing before leaving the room.

She went upstairs and placed Ava down in her crib before heading back to the kitchen where she made a bag of microwave popcorn, normally she preferred it on the stove but she didn't feel like doing dishes. She poured the popcorn into a large bowl and made her way back to the den where she found Jake curled up with a blanket intently watching the movie. She handed him the popcorn before heading back upstairs to grab a handful of files to review while she watched the movie with him.

That was how Gibbs and Kelly found them when they got home, Jake was laying on the couch, his head in Jenny's lap sound asleep as the end credits to the movie rolled, Jenny had a hand on Jake's head combing her fingers gently through his hair as she read the file in her free hand, her glasses perched on the edge of her nose. He watched as Kelly quickly pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of the two before he cleared his throat to announce their presence. Jenny looked up in surprise, amazed she hadn't heard them come in as she had been so wrapped up in her work.

"Hey, I didn't hear you come in." She whispered.

"How did you get to be the Director of a federal agency?" Gibbs asked dryly, raising an eyebrow.

"I made a deal with the devil, sold him your soul." Jenny deadpanned, rolling her eyes at him.

"Where's the baby?" He questioned, ignoring her remark.

"Upstairs in her crib, she passed out about an hour and a half ago." Jenny replied quietly.

"Is he ready for bed?" Gibbs asked nodding at Jake who was stirring slightly, running his hand over his face before turning it into Jenny's thigh, muttering something unintelligible.

Jenny smirked and nodded, "he's showered and had a snack, he just needs to get into bed."

"I'll take him up." Gibbs stated, putting the bag he was holding down at his feet before scooping up the small boy like he weighed nothing.

"Did you know my dad has part of a boat in his basement?" Kelly questioned after Gibbs had disappeared up the stairs, "Tony told me about it but I didn't quite believe him."

Jenny chuckled and nodded, "he's been building boats as long as I've known him, this is his second one since I've been around."

"How does he get them out of the basement?" Kelly asked.

"You know what, you might be the only one who will ever get an answer to that question." Jenny replied, "we've been asking that for years and so far we've never gotten a straight answer."

Kelly nodded and seemed to hesitate for a moment before speaking again, "I wanted to thank you again for today, I had a really great time and I know Jake did too… It's been a long time since I've seen him so happy, and thank you for everything this morning too."

"You're very welcome." Jenny replied, watching as the teen slowly took a seat on the other end of the couch, "did you have a nice time with your dad tonight?"

"Yeah, it was weird seeing the house and pictures of me and my mom." Kelly replied, looking down at her hands folded in her lap. "It was like looking through a window to a completely different life, almost looking at what could have been I guess."

Jenny smiled sadly and reached over, resting her hand on Kelly's knee, surprising both herself and Kelly with the action. "I wish I could change how things turned out." She stated softly.

Kelly looked around her at the dimly lit den, Ava's bouncy chair was in front of the fire place and a few of Jake's toys were spread around, Jenny's files were sitting on the coffee table and Gibbs had a book laying open underneath them.

"I'm okay with how things turned out," Kelly replied, "I wish the journey had been a bit easier but I'm pretty happy with where we ended up."

"Well you've only been here for a few days, I'm sure you'll hate us after a while." Jenny said with a small laugh.

Kelly looked up and shook her slowly, "no, this is the best place we've ever had, I don't know what your plans are for Jake and Ava after I move out but even if they're only here for a little while I know that they won't ever find a better home."

Jenny stated firmly, "I don't know where you guys were before this, I don't know everything that happened to you and I won't ask unless you want to share but I promise that as long as you want it you, all of you, will have a home here."

"Thank you for that." Kelly whispered, giving the hand that was resting on her knee a squeeze, "are you still coming in with us tomorrow morning? I don't want you guys to have to miss any work for this."

Although the kids would normally be catching the school bus in the morning both Jenny and Gibbs wanted to drive them in tomorrow.

"It's your first day at a new school, your dad and I wouldn't miss that for anything and don't worry about work we'll only miss an hour and this is much more important." Jenny replied, "speaking of school it's getting late, do you want to grab a shower tonight or tomorrow morning?"

"I think I'll have one tonight, my bag is all packed and I'll make my lunch after I'm done." Kelly replied, before standing up.

Jenny watched her go with a small smile on her face, even though she had no doubt had a hard time growing up the teen was a genuinely happy person. Jenny assumed she got her sunny disposition from Shannon but she had seen glimpses of Gibbs in the teen and the more time she spent with her the more of Gibbs she saw. Her kindness and compassion, the quiet way she cared for Jake and Ava without demanding anything in return, the way she did little things to make everything easier on Gibbs and Jenny without even being asked all screamed of Gibbs.

She closed the files in front of her and gathered them up, carrying them with her into the kitchen where she deposited them onto the kitchen table before opening up the fridge and pulling out everything she needed to make lunches. She spread the bread and lunch meats out on the counter and wandered around the kitchen picking out snacks for Jake and Kelly.

Kelly wandered into the kitchen wearing grey pyjama bottoms and a black t-shirt to find Jenny sitting at the kitchen table, a mug in her hand a file open in front of her and supplies to make lunches spread out all over the counter.

"I started to make them, and then I realized I had no idea what either of you liked." Jenny admitted sheepishly when she heard Kelly enter the room.

Kelly chuckled quietly and nodded, "Jake doesn't really like lunch meats right now, he used to but he's going through a phase, he loves jam sandwiches right now but not with too much jam." She informed the older red head, "he'll eat pretty much anything for a snack but he loves chocolate granola bars."

"And what about you?" Jenny asked.

"I like pretty much anything, I'm not overly fond of sandwiches so I'll normally take a salad or something like that, I like hummus and flatbread too." Kelly replied.

Jenny grinned and pulled something out of the fridge, "these are my favourite, I keep them in the mini fridge in my office for when I don't get a chance to eat lunch between meetings."

Kelly grinned when she saw the mini snack pack of hummus and naan bread, "I love those!" She exclaimed.

"Go ahead and pack one, there's veggies and other stuff in the fridge too." Jenny replied, putting together the last items for Jakes lunch before putting the _Phineas and Ferb_ lunch box in the fridge to keep everything cool over night.

"Is it okay if I take some of these?" Kelly asked holding out a bag of snow peas.

"Of course, if it's in the kitchen it's to be eaten, you don't have to ask." Jenny replied, taking a sip of tea from her mug.

After the teen had finished making her lunch and cleaning up the kitchen she excused herself to finish getting ready for bed while Jenny cleaned up the dishes from her tea before making her way upstairs. She saw that Jake's door was opened only a sliver, Ava's door was shut to block out noise from the rest of the house and Kelly's door was cracked open. Gibbs was nowhere to be found. She made her way down the hall to Kelly's room and knocked lightly on the door poking her head in when the teen called out 'come in'.

She found Kelly sitting on her window seat a journal or sketch book of some sort open in her lap and a pencil case beside her.

"I won't interrupt I just came in to say good night." Jenny said, not moving away from the doorway.

She looked around the room and noticed the small personal touches that had been added, an older teddy bear that had obviously seen better days sat on the bed, a small red-haired doll sat on her dresser, several pictures of Jake and Ava were scattered around the room, she noticed the bag Gibbs had left in the living room sitting on the teens desk but didn't question it.

"You're not interruption anything, I just like to do a bit of doodling before bed, it helps me wind down." Kelly replied, "if my hands are busy my mind is quiet."

"Just like your dad." Jenny commented, "he likes to work with his hands."

"I guess that explains the boats then." Kelly replied with a small grin, "sort of." She added.

Jenny grinned and shook her head, "I'll let you get back to your drawing, I'm just down the hall if you need anything."

"Thanks, good night Jenny." Kelly replied.

Jenny closed the door behind her before poking her head into Jake's room to make sure the child was still asleep. She panicked when she didn't see him in his bed and stepped into the room her eyes scanning every inch using the dim light flowing in from the hallway to help her see. Her heart almost stopped when she saw him curled into a ball in the farthest corner of his room, she quietly made her way over to him as she got closer he looked up and she could see tears streaming down his face.

"What's wrong?" She asked, concern washing over her as she imagined the worst.

"I had a bad dream." He whimpered, swiping at his cheeks.

Jenny felt herself calm slightly at that and moved so she was sitting beside him, "why didn't you come and find me or Gibbs?" She asked quietly, not wanting him to think he was in trouble.

"I'm not supposed to bug you unless an emergency." He replied solemnly.

"Who told you that?" Jenny asked gently.

"My last foster mom, she got mad if we bugged her just for a bad dream, she said they weren't real and that we shouldn't bug her with fake stuff." Jake replied biting his lip to stop himself from crying, not wanting to anger Jenny.

"Hey," Jenny said softly, "bad dreams are very real and you're always allowed to come and get one of us if you wake up scared okay? Everyone has bad dreams."

"Even you guys?" He asked hesitantly.

Jenny nodded and wrapped an arm around the boy, "especially us." She replied firmly, "sometimes it helps to talk about it, do you want to tell me what it was about?" She asked softly, if he was willing to share she would listen but she wouldn't push him to talk.

Jake thought about it for a minute and shook his head in the negative.

"Okay, you don't have to tell me but if you ever want to talk about it you can come to me or Gibbs, day or night." She offered.

Jake nodded and leaned his head against her shoulder, unsure how she would react but not really caring at the moment. Jenny tensed for a moment before pulling the boy against her side tighter, placing a kiss on the top of his head.

"When I have a bad dream I sometimes like it if someone rubs my back," she admitted, "why don't you crawl back into bed and I'll rub your back for a bit." She offered, giving him one last squeeze before letting him up.

She let him crawl back into the bed before scooting in behind him, she reached out and gently began running her hand up and down his back, noticing the way he curled himself into a ball to sleep. Within minutes his little body relaxed and his breathing evened out, she stayed for another few minutes just to be sure he was asleep before slipping out of the room, leaving the door open enough that the light from the hallway streamed in a bit. She turned to go down to her room and ran right into Gibbs.

"What are you doing there?" She hissed, trying to calm her once again pounding heart.

"Came to check on Jake, thought I heard him moving around." He replied with a shrug.

"He had a bad dream." Jenny replied, "I found him curled up in the corner, he's back to sleep now."

"Sounds like you handled it okay." Gibbs stated.

"I want to find out who his last foster mom was and strangle her." Jenny whispered vehemently, anger coming over her in a strong wave.

"Why?" Gibbs asked, "did she hurt him?"

"Not physically, at least not that I know of but I asked him why he didn't come and find one of us when he woke up and he said that his last foster mom got mad if he woke her up because of a bad dream, apparently she said they were fake and she didn't need to be bothered by fake stuff." Jenny replied her voice growing angrier by the second.

Without thinking Gibbs grabbed her shoulders and steered her into the nearest room and shut the door behind them, not wanting her to wake Jake or one of the girls up as her voice got louder.

"He was terrified, Jethro, he was crying and curled up in the corner and he wouldn't come and get one of us because he was even more terrified of getting into trouble." She stated, "who tells a kid that their fears, their nightmares aren't valid?" She asked angrily, "he was so afraid of upsetting us that he'd rather stay in the dark alone and terrified, how are we supposed to help him if he's too scared to ask for help?" She asked, her tone changing from angry to defeated, "he looked so small Jethro, and it's not just him Kelly acts like she's walking on eggshells all the time, just waiting for one of us to snap at her or one of the kids. She doesn't ask for anything and every time I offer help or something like that she's almost afraid to accept it, I can see it in her eyes."

Gibbs flinched when Jenny brought up the way Kelly acted when it came to asking for and accepting help, he had noticed it but he had been trying to ignore it, to write it off as her just settling in.

"Maybe she's still just trying to settle in." He said, voicing his thoughts.

If it was just nervousness as she settled in he could live with that, he wasn't sure how he would live with himself if she had been abused or neglected in anyway simply because he hadn't been around to protect her.

"I thought it might have been that too, until Jake told me what his last foster mom said." Jenny replied, watching what little bit of hope that had been left in his eyes disappear, "this is not your fault." She added quietly, having known him long enough to know where his mind had gone.

"Yeah it is, shoulda been there for her, Jen." He argued.

"How could you have known, there is literally no possible way for you to have known, Jethro." Jenny stated firmly, "do not start blaming yourself for this, it won't help you and it certainly won't help those kids if you're making yourself a martyr."

She could tell her last statement hit exactly where it was supposed to by the way his eyes hardened, his mouth setting into a firm line.

"I don't know how to help them." She stated after a minute of slightly tense silence, "Kelly seems to find ways to deal with everything on her own and I think we should let her, at least for a little while but Jake just seems so lost. He's so afraid of upsetting us, I think he thinks we're going to send him away if he does one little thing wrong, I keep picturing the look on his face last night when he asked if he would still be here next summer."

"We need to talk about that." Gibbs started, "Kelly's going to be moving out in a few years, if not sooner, what's going to happen to Jake and Ava when that happens?"

"I don't know what your plans are but I'm not just going to throw them back into the system to get lost again." Jenny replied firmly.

"You saying you want to keep them even after Kelly goes?" He asked, "lot can change in a few years, what if you get another job offer or you meet someone and want a family of your own?"

Jenny tried to hide the hurt she felt at his question, she knew it was warranted and that he was only looking out for the kids wellbeing but it did hurt nonetheless.

"I am perfectly happy with my job, and I have a family, I may have only known them for a short while but these kids are my family now and I think we're just about the only family that they have besides each other. No one deserves to be alone, no matter what they've done but those kids, they've done nothing, Jethro, absolutely nothing and I am not just going to throw them to the wolves so I can get a better job and go back to a cold and empty house. I don't care if you don't want them around or if you decide we can't live together, I'll take them on my own if I have to but they're not going anywhere." She stated firmly, her earlier anger coming back.

"Never said I didn't want them, I don't plan on letting them go even if I have to do it alone or we decide to move out and split custody, just wanna make sure your sure about this, not fair to them to let them get attached only to let them go." He replied, trying to calm her down a bit.

Jenny let her body relax slightly at his words and nodded silently, even though she had only known the three kids for a few days they had somehow managed to worm their way into her heart. She couldn't imagine going back to a life without them and that terrified her, the last time she had felt like that about someone she had made herself walk away to save herself from further heartache but this time she couldn't. This time there were three people counting on her to take care of them in a way no one else had. As she looked at the man she had walked away from all those years ago, she realized with a start that he was slowly worming his own way back into her heart and that was dangerous, there was no room for him right now, she needed to focus on the kids and on keeping herself on track. She needed to redraw the line before they crossed too far over it, before she started depending on him again in a way she couldn't afford to.

 **Hey everyone I hope everyone had a great holiday season! I have to admit I'm not entirely thrilled with this chapter but here's a small offering from me to you for the holidays! I hope you enjoy and thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter I love to hear from you guys… Please remember I own nothing!**

 **~Katie**


	10. Ducky, The People Whisperer

**AN: I know I originally said that the school was uniform but for the purpose of my story I'm changing that! Thanks guys!**

 **Ten**

Jenny finished the final touches on her hair and makeup before making her way down the hall to Kelly's room where she could already hear Kelly up and moving around. Jenny knocked on the half open door and waited for the teen to call out 'come in' before entering.

"Good morning." Jenny said, trying not to smile at the multiple outfits laid out on the teens bed, "having trouble deciding what to wear?"

Kelly's shoulders slumped as she stared at the outfits in front of her, "I like all of them but I just don't know what these kids wear to school."

"I know this is the least helpful advice I could give you but wear what _you_ want to." Jenny stated, "I know it helps to feel like you're blending in but wear something that you're comfortable with, everyone's going to love you it doesn't matter what you're wearing."

"That's some very mom-ish advice." Kelly commented with a grin before pointing to the two outfits directly in front of her, "I like these two."

Jenny studied the two outfits before pointing to the one on the left, a pair of light wash jeans a loose white t-shirt and a pale pink cardigan, "go with that one, a skirt's probably not a good idea on your first day, especially when you have no idea what you'll be doing." Jenny reasoned, nixing the other outfit, "you could always wear that one tomorrow."

"That's probably a good idea." Kelly agreed, hanging up the second outfit.

"What are you doing with your hair?" Jenny asked.

"I think I'm just going to leave it down and bring an elastic in case I want to put it up." Kelly replied, "are you and Dad still driving us in?"

"Yes, we have some forms and stuff we need to sign and we wanted to meet the principle." Jenny responded, "I promise we won't embarrass you."

Kelly laughed and shook her head, "I wasn't worried about that, I just didn't want to take time out of your day or take you away from work."

"We want to go, don't worry about work, we're going early enough that it won't really affect our day and besides this is a big day." Jenny replied, "it's your first day of a new school, we wouldn't miss this for the world."

"Thank you again for all of this." Kelly said softly, gesturing around her tidy room, "and for the school and everything."

"You're welcome, and remember if you need anything today just call either your dad or I, our work and cell numbers are in your phone." Jenny said, "what do you want for breakfast?"

"I'll call if I need anything but I'm sure we'll both be fine, I think just toast for breakfast, I don't think I could stomach anything else." Kelly replied with a small laugh.

"Alright, I'm going to go down and make some coffee I'll put your toast down." Jenny offered, slipping out of the room before the teen could protest.

Downstairs she found Gibbs feeding Ava baby cereal, a cup of coffee in his free hand, she smirked as she watched the six month old spit out half of each spoonful.

"There's coffee." Gibbs stated, nodding at the coffee maker.

"Thanks." She replied, breaking her gaze away from the baby to move towards the coffee maker.

"What was wrong with Kel?" Gibbs asked, giving Ava one last spoonful before pouring himself a bowl of regular cereal.

"She couldn't decide what to wear, we got it figured out." Jenny replied with a small smile as she put down two pieces of bread in the toaster before pouring herself a cup of coffee not even flinching at the strength of the bitter liquid.

"I'm just have to grab my bag but I'm ready to go." Kelly stated as she walked into the room, "morning, Dad, morning, Ava." She added, veering to kiss the top of Ava's head, "can I grab a cup of coffee?"

"Go for it." Gibbs commented, "cream's in the fridge and sugar is in the cupboard."

"No thanks, black is fine." Kelly replied pouring herself a cup and taking a drink, "it's good." She commented, nodding down at the mug.

Jenny raised an eyebrow at her and smirked, turning to Gibbs, "oh yeah, she's yours." She stated with a small laugh.

"What?" Kelly asked, looking between the two.

"Almost no one can drink your dad's coffee it's so strong, it took me a year to learn to stomach it and another six months before I actually started to enjoy it." Jenny explained.

"I've never liked anything in my coffee, it ruins it." Kelly replied, "I don't mind a latte occasionally or something like that but plain coffee needs to be black."

Jenny just smirked and poured more coffee into her mug, "where's Jake?" She asked noticing the boys absence from the kitchen.

"He already ate, he said he was going to get dressed." Gibbs replied.

Jenny nodded before replying, "I laid her clothes out on her change table last night, if you can get her dressed I'll check on Jake." She offered, waiting until Gibbs nodded before making her way upstairs.

N*C*I*S

Jenny rubbed her temples as she fought against the angry tears that were threatening to fall, she had just left a meeting with the Secretary of the Navy who had somehow found out about her new living situation. In light of his discovery he had decided to temporarily suspend her while he investigated every decision she had made regarding Gibbs and his team in the last three years. She understood why he felt he needed to investigate, NCIS did have a rule against fraternizing with subordinates but that didn't take away her frustration. She loved her job, she lived for her job and suddenly someone else was going to be doing the job she had worked so hard for. She looked around her office with a defeated sigh, she had no idea if she would even be allowed back, if the SecNav looked far enough back he would find years of cover-ups on both sides of it. There were countless times Gibbs had covered for her and taken the fall for something she had done and she had done the same, sweeping things under the rug for each other had become their MO, it was second nature to them. Their commitment to protecting each other no matter the cost had made them a good team and suddenly the thing that had made them a good team was about to tear her, and possibly him, apart. There were things that they had done that would burn both their careers to the ground, Jenny's knowledge about the Hernandez murder, Gibbs' knowledge and cover up for the man she had killed by accident in Europe, and this time there was nothing she could do to protect either of them.

She opened her top desk drawer and pulled out her gun and badge, she put her badge on, letting it hang around her neck before clipping her gun on her hip, she opened her brief case and emptied it of all files before carefully placing the picture of her father inside of it, she grabbed a few other personal items and added them into the case before leaving the office, shutting the lights and locking the door behind her. She left a note for Cynthia, who was gone for lunch, saying that she was taking a leave of absence to deal with a personal issue before making her way towards the elevator. She stepped in and was about to press the button for the parking garage before changing her mind, instead she pressed the button that would take her two floors lower.

She stepped off the elevator and tried not to think about the smell as she walked towards Autopsy, she was relieved to find the room free of any bodies as well as Jimmy Palmer, as much as she liked the young man she simply wanted a few minutes with Ducky, hoping to garner some perspective from the older Scotsman.

"Well hello my dear! This is a rather pleasant surprise!" Ducky greeted enthusiastically when he turned around to find Jenny standing in his doorway.

Jenny smiled softly at him, that was one thing she had always loved about Ducky, he never really held a grudge. He had been cold towards her for a few months after La Grenouille but had eventually put it aside and returned to treating her as a friend rather than a pariah.

"Hello Dr. Mallard, no guests right now?" She asked, looking around the room.

"Mr. Palmer is out for lunch so I figured I would take a few moments to enjoy a cup of tea, would you care to join me?" Ducky offered, motioning to the empty chair beside his desk.

"I would love that." Jenny replied softly, taking a seat in the chair before accepting a warm cup of Earl Grey, "I still have the tea set you got me for my thirtieth birthday." She commented as she fiddled with the handle on her tea cup.

"Ah yes, I remember that set well, I had found the teapot as well as cream and sugar containers at an antiques store but I could not find cups to match, Jethro found white cups very similar and painted them to match the rest of the set." Ducky replied, thinking back with a fond smile, he had known Jenny would love the delicate white teapot with a spray of purple orchids on it.

"I didn't know Jethro did that, I just assumed it was a set." Jenny admitted, trying to hide her surprise.

Ducky looked up at her with a slight grin and shook his head, "no I don't suppose he would have told you, he wouldn't even admit to me that he did it but I noticed the purple paint staining his hand." He said with a fond smile, "that is Jethro, but I suspect you didn't come down here to discus china patterns with me now did you?"

Jenny sighed and shook her head, "I got suspended today." She whispered, looking down at the cup in her hands rather than at the old doctor.

"What do you mean suspended?" Ducky asked in surprise.

"SecNav somehow found out about the kids, he's opening an investigation into my decisions around Jethro and his team, he needs to make sure that they didn't receive any special treatment." Jenny explained still not looking up.

"And what will he find with his investigation?" Ducky asked carefully.

"Depends on how deep he digs I guess, officially he won't find anything, unofficially he'll find enough to end both of our careers and possibly put us in jail." Jenny admitted, horrified that her voice cracked halfway through her statement, "if he digs deep enough there are things he'll find that will probably ruin whatever friendship Jethro and I have left."

"The baby." Ducky stated, not even bothering to make it a question.

"That's one of them," Jenny agreed, trying hard not to think about the painful memories associated with those two words. "SecNav has agreed to be discreet with the public and the rest of the agency but I'm sure whatever he finds will make it's way back to Gibbs, it always does."

"How will he be handling your suspension?" Ducky asked.

"Officially I am taking a personal leave of absence," Jenny replied, "SecNav wanted to call it a short maternity leave but I want to keep the kids out of this if I can, I'm sure the rumours will start as soon as it's announced but the longer I can keep it quiet the better."

"Did you explain your situation to him?" Ducky asked.

"I told him that Jethro and I had never let our personal relationship, whatever it may have been at the time, affect our work and that even though we were living together and raising kids together it didn't earn him any special treatment." Jenny replied.

"Why didn't you just tell him everything?" Ducky questioned.

"Kelly's story isn't mine to tell, Jethro doesn't deserve to have that broadcasted out to a man he barely knows and I refuse to say that Jake and Ava are just a temporary fixture in my life because they aren't. I will not throw those kids under the bus to save my own ass, they've had enough bad things happen in their lives, I will not deny that they are a part of my family just to save my job, they don't deserve that." Jenny responded firmly.

"They would never know, and how are you planning to help them if you lose your job because of this, or worse?" Ducky asked reasonably, he agreed with and admired Jenny's commitment to the children but he wanted to make sure she had thought it out completely.

"I can get another job, I love my job but those kids mean a lot more to me than the job ever will, they've had enough people turn their backs on them and I won't do that to them, even if it means I lose my job and whatever friendship I have left with Jethro." She replied.

"It has been eight years my dear, maybe it's time to drag some of the skeletons out of the closet." Ducky stated gently, "it is probably better that he hear about it from you rather than someone else, I know your rule of thumb is that what Gibbs doesn't know won't hurt us but maybe this time it is better to let him know and accept the consequences."

"I'm not worried about what's going to hurt me this time… There are things that will hurt him to find out about." Jenny whispered, "I can't hurt him all over again, Ducky, and this time it's something that will hurt him a lot more than me leaving ever did."

"It will hurt him even worse if he finds out from someone else," Ducky reminded her softly, "this is something that is deeply personal to you, and it is something that he needs to hear from you, not a stranger."

"I don't know if I can talk about it," Jenny admitted, biting her tongue when she felt her chin tremble and her eyes well up, "I can't even think about it…"

"It's okay to cry my dear," Ducky whispered, reaching out to rest a hand on her knee, "I strongly suspect you've never dealt with this and you need to. You and Jethro are exactly alike, you both try so hard to be strong that you don't know how to be weak. You are so fiercely protective of everyone around you that you forget that you need to take care of yourselves. Sometimes, my dear, our greatest show of strength is allowing ourselves to be weak."

 **I hope you guys enjoyed and thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter I love to hear from you guys… Please remember I own nothing! Fair warning that the next chapter will not be as fluffy as I've kept things up until now, it'll be angsty and emotional but I promise it will make things better for Gibbs and Jenny in the end!**

 **~Katie**


	11. The Long Road Ahead

**Eleven**

Ducky watched as Jenny took a shuddering breath and nodded before taking a sip of her tea.

"I don't know how to talk to him about this." Jenny muttered, "we were never good at the whole talking thing and you know Jethro, he doesn't talk about emotional subjects he changes the subject and hides with his boat."

Ducky sighed and nodded, "I do not know how to help you with that dilemma my dear, Jethro is, as young Anthony says, a functional mute. I suggest talking to him at a time when no one else is around, and when you will have as few interruptions as possible."

Jenny raised an eyebrow, "We work in a building full of people twelve hours out of the day and have three kids, when do we have time for that?" She asked with a small laugh.

Ducky chuckled softly and nodded in understanding, they sat there sipping their tea until the shrill ringing of Ducky's cell phone interrupted the comfortable silence. Jenny watched as Ducky answered it will a small smile on his face, she watched the smile slowly fade as he nodded along to whatever the person on the other side of the phone was saying before hanging up with a quiet goodbye.

"Is something wrong, Ducky?" Jenny asked, her voice already laced with concern at the grim look on the older doctors face.

"That was Anthony." Ducky stated slowly, "there was an accident."

"Ducky," Jenny warned, it was not the time for drawn out stories or beating around the bush"what the hell is going on?"

"They were answering a call about a missing Naval Lieutenant when shots were fired, Jethro took a round to the shoulder, he was rushed to Bethesda by ambulance, Anthony is on his way now but he doesn't know anything yet." Ducky explained.

Jenny felt her stomach drop and all of the colour drain from her face at his words, if Gibbs was willing to go in an ambulance he was either severally injured or unconscious.

"They weren't supposed to be on call today, they were off of rotation until tomorrow so they could catch up on the paper work from their last case, the com-centre knew that." Jenny stated, "I made sure to double check when I came in this morning, it was one of the first things I did, they guaranteed that they wouldn't be called out."

"Maybe it was a mistake." Ducky replied gently.

"It couldn't have been, when I take a team out of rotation their name gets removed from the call system, the com-centre shouldn't have even had Jethro's number on the list of available teams." Jenny replied, standing up suddenly, "even if someone specifically asked for him he shouldn't have even been an option today."

"Well what are you suggesting then my dear?" Ducky asked, gently grabbing her arm as she turned to leave.

"Something's not right." Jenny muttered.

N*C*I*S

Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo paced the hospital waiting room anxiously, waiting for any one of the many doctors he had seen to talk to him, Gibbs had arrived at the hospital an hour earlier and he had shown up fifteen minutes after that. His mind was racing, going over the events of the morning in his head repeatedly, trying to figure out where they had gone wrong. He was broken out of his thoughts when a small hand rested on his shoulder, he turned around to find both Jenny and Ducky standing behind him, grim looks on both of their faces.

"What happened?" She asked quietly, trying not to let her anxiety show in the waiting room full of people.

Tony's eyes flitted down to the badge hanging around her neck and the gun holstered on her hip before he looked back to her face, her determination and no nonsense attitude showing in her expression.

"Gibbs got a call from the com-centre at 1245 about a missing Lieutenant, we went to the address we were sent but the house was empty, we were doing an exterior sweep of the property when shots were fired from inside of the house." Tony explained.

"How many shots?" Jenny asked, pulling a notepad out of her back pocket.

"Three, first two missed but the third hit Gibbs in the shoulder, impact knocked him backwards and he hit his head pretty hard when he fell, he was unconscious when the EMT's got there." Tony replied, "Agent McGee stayed with him while Officer David and I looked for the shooter." He added, transforming into an agent rather than a concerned friend.

"Are they still there?" Ducky asked, removing his jacket and draping it over his arm.

"They're coordinating with base MP's to cordon off the neighbourhood and look for any sign of the shooter, as soon as I hear something about Gibbs I'll be going back." Tony replied, "I know I'm not Gibbs but my gut's telling me something's not right."

Jenny sighed and nodded, "the entire thing was a set up, your team was off rotation for today, I'm having Abby track exactly where the call came from, Agent Balboa's team is interviewing everyone in the com-centre to see if there's any way that someone made a mistake but I seriously doubt it, rules thirty-nine and forty."

"There's no such thing as a coincidence and if it seems like someone is out to get you, they are." Tony stated ominously, "I want our team to have lead on this." He added firmly.

"I agree but unfortunately after today it's no longer up to me," Jenny replied, "I was suspended this morning, in light of recent events SecNav has agreed to let me continue as director until Leon Vance arrives this evening, he's leaving LA as we speak."

"What do you mean suspended?" Tony asked in shock, only just barely remembering to keep his voice to a whisper in the crowded room.

"SecNav found out about the kids, he needs to investigate to be sure that I haven't been giving anyone any preferential treatment and until he can prove that I haven't, I can't do my job." Jenny replied.

"Do you think that has anything to do with what happened to Gibbs?" Tony asked, his mind racing.

"I've considered it, I tried calling SecNav to ask him who his informant was but he's in classified meetings all afternoon." Jenny replied.

"The kids?" Tony asked, his stomach dropping at the idea of someone hurting Kelly or Jake.

"I sent extra security over to the school to discreetly keep an eye on them, Ava is safe in the daycare." Jenny responded, "now that I'm here I want you to go back to the scene and make sure everything is being handled properly, I'm sure Agent McGee is more than capable but I want a Senior Agent there to make sure nothing gets lost or left out."

DiNozzo hesitated for a moment before nodding, "call me as soon as you hear something."

"I'll keep you updated." Jenny promised, "you call me if you find something."

"Is there anyone we need to contact?" Tony asked, the last time Gibbs had been in the hospital Jenny had handled all of the notification calls.

Jenny wracked her brain for a moment, trying to collect her thoughts before nodding, "Call Mike Franks, he'll want to know, and Fornell."

Tony made a face at the idea of having to talk to FBI Senior Agent Tobias Fornell but nodded before disappearing from the waiting room leaving Jenny and Ducky behind, Jenny took a seat on one of the hard chairs and ran her hands over her face, silently wishing she could turn back the clock.

"Everything will be alright my dear." Ducky assured her, even though he knew it sounded weak even to his own ears, "he always pulls through these things."

"He's not my main concern right now," Jenny muttered, "I'm worried about the three kids I have to explain this to." She explained when she realized how callous her statement sounded, "I'm worried about him but I'm more worried about the sixteen year old who has already lost him once, I can't tell her she's lost him again."

Ducky sat down beside her and rested a hand on her knee, "Kelly is a strong young woman my dear, I have no doubt in my mind that she will be able to handle whatever may happen, it may not be easy but she will push through it. There is no reason to worry about the worst case scenario right now, at least not until we talk to the doctors."

"I don't want to think about all the what ifs but I have to, Ducky." Jenny whispered, "I need to make sure I have every base covered right now, I have to make sure that no matter what it looks like I'm only acting as his boss but I also need to consider other aspects."

"You are trying to be three people at once." Ducky stated with a sad smile, "His boss, his partner and the mother of his children." He added when Jenny gave him a questioning look.

Jenny sighed, leaned her head against the back of the chair, and stared at the ceiling, "how am I going to do this alone?" She whispered, "How do I tell Kelly?"

"No matter what happens, and I seriously doubt that Gibbs will give up that easily after he's finally gotten everything he's ever wanted, you will never be alone my dear. You have three beautiful children who think you hung the moon and the stars and you are surrounded by a family who is more than ready to help you with those children."

N*C*I*S

Kelly eyed Jenny's car in the driveway wearily, neither Jenny or her father were supposed to be home until after five o'clock. She followed Jake up the front step listening to his happy chattering as she unlocked the front door to let them both in. Jenny's heels were on the doormat but her fathers were nowhere to be found.

"Is anyone home?" She called out, she kicked off her shoes and put them neatly on the mat before she made her way into the living room where she had heard Jenny's muffled 'in here'.

Jenny looked up from the laundry she was folding when she heard Jake come bounding into the living room, followed by a much more subdued Kelly.

"How was your first day at school?" Jenny asked, plastering what she hoped was a convincing smile on her face.

"It was so great! Ms. Thomson is really cool and I made a new friend, and my gym teacher said I was really good at soccer and that maybe I could try out for the team!" Jake exclaimed, as he tossed his backpack on the couch and flopped down beside it, almost knocking over the pile of folded laundry Jenny had made.

"That's great!" Jenny replied, quickly moving the pile of laundry out of the way, "I want to hear all about it but first why don't you go have a snack, I put a special treat out on the counter for you."

She had stopped at her favourite bakery on the way home to buy cookies, hoping they would distract Jake long enough for her to talk to Kelly.

"Awesome! Can I eat them in my room?" Jake asked, jumping up from the couch and grabbing his bag.

"Put them on a plate and don't make a mess." Jenny replied, "just don't be too loud, the baby is napping." She added.

She waited until he had grabbed his cookies and disappeared upstairs before turning to Kelly, the teen had taken a seat on the edge of the couch, her face void of emotion but her eyes were wary.

"How was you first day at school?" Jenny asked, trying her best to keep her voice sounding normal.

"Something happened, didn't it?" Kelly questioned, completely ignoring Jenny's question.

"What makes you say that?"

"There were agents at the school today, they were discreet but I recognized them, you're here and Dad's not and you're avoiding my question." Kelly stated, folding her hands in her lap, "plus I've had a bad feeling all day."

"You're just like your father." Jenny stated with a sigh, still amazed at how perceptive Kelly was, even to the smallest of details. "Something did happen today, your dad's team responded to call and things went badly, your dad took a shot to the shoulder, it was a through and through and missed any major organs, arteries and it missed his actual shoulder joint."

"But?" Kelly pushed.

"The force of the bullet knocked him down and he hit his head pretty hard." Jenny added, taking a deep breath as she tried to figure out how much more to tell the teen.

"Please don't sugar coat it to protect me, it'll just make things worse." Kelly whispered, suspecting exactly what Jenny was trying to do.

"There was some swelling in your Dad's brain from the fall, the doctors decided to put him in a medically induced coma so that his body can heal properly, he's stable but with this type of injury they can't know how bad the damage is until after he wakes up." Jenny explained.

Kelly took a deep breath and swallowed heavily before nodding, "what are his chances of a full recovery?"

"The doctors are fairly confident there isn't going to be any long term damage but they want us to be prepared that that may not be the case." Jenny replied honestly.

"Who's up there with him now?" Kelly asked, "he shouldn't be alone."

"He's not," Jenny assured her, "right now Ducky is up there probably talking his ear off, I'm going to need to go back up there tonight to talk to the doctors, Tony and Abby are going to come over to stay with Jake and Ava, you're more than welcome to join me but you don't have to."

Jenny didn't want Kelly to feel like she had to go up to the hospital, she would completely understand if Kelly wasn't comfortable with it. Jenny was a grown woman who had seen Gibbs in this condition before but it had still made her stomach drop and taken her breath away in all the wrong ways, she didn't want Kelly to go through that if she wasn't comfortable with it.

"I'll go with you if that's okay, I want to see him."

"That's more than okay but-"

"I know." Kelly cut her off quietly, she knew exactly what to expect, "I'll survive."

 **Well guys, eleventh chapter done, please remember I own nothing it all belongs to DPB! I really love to hear from you guys and reviews are always appreciated! Sorry for such a long wait, work and real life knocked me on my ass… Thank you guys so much for your patience! (Also I'm looking for a beta if anyone is interested?)**

 **Thanks again!**

 **~Katie**


	12. That'll Be The Day

**Twelve**

"What are you going to tell Jake?" Kelly asked, her voice was calm but her mind was racing a million miles a minute.

Jenny sighed and gave a small shrug, "I have no idea, I don't want to lie to him but I don't want him to have to worry."

"I know that it's not up to me, but he's strong, I wouldn't give him too many details but I wouldn't lie to him either, he's smart he'll know something is up if you try to hide it from him." Kelly stated quietly.

As much as she respected and admired Jenny and her father she was still cautious about how much to say or not say to them, still unclear where the line was.

"You have put two years of your life into helping raise Jake," Jenny reminded her. "Your dad and I have to be the ones to make the final decisions but you are always welcome to give suggestions, that being said I don't want you to feel like you have to always be helping with the other kids either, I want you to enjoy being a kid too" She added, "I don't want you to constantly be worrying about everything, that's not what being a teenager is supposed to be like, you should be worried about exams or prom or boys, not raising kids and helping your dad and I."

Jenny hated that Kelly even had to know about Gibbs, had to worry about how it would effect Jake and Ava but she also knew she couldn't hide it from the teen. She wanted as normal a life, as worry free and carefree a life for the kids as possible, but looking at Kelly's downcast eyes and twisting hands she was hit with a sudden realization.

"Except you don't know how to just be a kid, do you?" She asked.

"I never really got the chance." Kelly whispered, refusing to meet Jenny's eyes.

Jenny felt her heart break all over again for the teenager in front of her, despite her upbeat and loving attitude Kelly had been through a hell she couldn't even begin to imagine.

"I don't blame anyone and I'm not upset about it, it's just the way it was." Kelly added quickly, not wanting Jenny to feel guilty,"it wasn't anyone's fault, I just want to make sure that Jake and Ava get the chance to be kids for as long as they possibly can."

Jenny surprised both of them by reaching forward and resting a hand on Kelly's knee, she gave it a light squeeze and nodded.

"You're dad and I are going to do everything in our power to make sure that all of you have the chance to be kids for as long as possible." Jenny promised.

"What's going to happen to us with Dad in the hospital?" Kelly asked quietly, the unspoken question of 'what if he doesn't come home?' hanging in the air.

"No matter what happens I will do everything I can to make sure that you three stay here." She promised, "I made you a promise that you would always have a home here and I fully intend to keep that promise."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," Jenny replied with a small smile, "now I really do want to know how your first day at school went."

She knew that in the whirlwind of information Kelly had just gotten school was probably the last thing on her mind but she wanted to get the teens mind off of her father and on to something more normal if at all possible.

"It was good, my classes were all really interesting." Kelly replied, "the other kids seem nice."

"You're not too far behind?" Jenny asked.

"I have a few things to catch up on but my teachers are being really great about helping me out." Kelly replied, "actually I have a few things I should probably work on before we go to the hospital tonight if that's okay."

"Go ahead." Jenny replied, "and Kelly, I'm here if you want to talk about anything okay?"

Jenny smiled softly when Kelly gave her a small nod before she grabbed her bag and made her way upstairs. Jenny folded the remaining laundry and tidied up the living room, making sure that any of Jake's smaller toys were out of Ava's reach. After she had finished tidying up the room she went upstairs, she peeked into Ava's nursery and found the baby just beginning to wake up.

"Well good afternoon, pretty lady." Jenny whispered as she scooped the still half asleep baby out of her crib.

She gently laid the baby down on her change table and quickly changed her wet diaper before buttoning her back into her soft grey onesie, she grinned proudly as she looked down at all of the buttons done up correctly, it had taken her three days but she had finally figured out how to do up the stupid things. She found herself wanting to take the baby to Gibbs to show off her handy work and felt a twinge of sadness when she realized she couldn't.

"He's going to come home." Jenny whispered, she was unsure if it was for her benefit or the baby's but it helped to say it out loud none the less.

Ava, who had woken up more as Jenny changed her, now grinned up at her, a large toothless grin that never failed to make Jenny smile. There was something about the baby's innocence, her way of smiling like nothing was wrong that made Jenny feel a bit more stable.

"Wanna go see Jake?" She asked, making faces at the baby as she talked.

She grinned when the baby squealed and giggled at the mention of her big brother.

"I'll take that as a yes."

As much as she was dreading having to tell Jake about Gibbs she knew that Kelly was right, the boy would figure it out sooner rather than later if they tried to hide it from him. She knocked lightly on Jake's open door and smiled as she looked into the room, he was spread out on the floor, a cookie in his hand and an open picture book in front of him.

"What are you reading?" Jenny asked, she tried not to laugh when the boy jumped slightly at the sound of her voice, "sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." She quickly apologized.

"We're not supposed to apologize." Jake pointed out with a small grin.

Jenny raised an eyebrow at him, "and who told you that?"

"Tony." Jake replied, as he took a bite out of his cookie.

"I see." Jenny said with a small shake of her head, she would correct that later, "I need to talk to you about something." She added, she took a seat on the edge of his bed and patted the mattress beside her with her spare hand.

"Am I in trouble?" Jake asked hesitantly as he closed his book and climbed onto the bed beside her.

"You're not in trouble," Jenny promised him, "I need to talk to you about…" She paused, she and Gibbs had never actually gotten a chance to discus what Jake and Ava were going to call them, "I need to talk to you about Gibbs." She finished, deciding that for now that would be easier.

"What's wrong?" Jake asked.

He recognized the tone of her voice, Kelly had always used it when something bad had happened, something she didn't know how to tell him about.

"He got hurt at work today," Jenny started, "he was chasing a bad guy and he got hurt."

"Did the bad guy hurt him?" Jake asked, looking up at her with wide eyes.

Jenny pursed her lips and nodded, "Yeah, the bad guy hurt him."

"Is he… Did he die?" Jake whispered.

"No!" Jenny exclaimed softly, "of course not, he's just hurt." She added as she wrapped her arm around him, "he has to stay at the hospital right now so that the doctors can make him better."

"Is he going to come home?"

"Not right away," Jenny replied slowly, she was unsure how to explain the rest, "The doctors want to make sure he's okay so he needs to stay there for now."

"But he's going to come home after that, right?"

"Of course." Jenny promised, hoping and praying to whoever was listening that she didn't just lie to a seven year old.

"Are we allowed to see him?"

"Not yet, maybe in a few days but right now he needs his rest, I have to go up and talk to the doctors tonight so Abby and Tony are going to come over and watch movies with you, how does that sound?" Jenny asked, desperately hoping that he wouldn't fight her about this.

"That sounds like fun, I like Tony and Abby, can I make him a card?"

"Who? Gibbs?" Jenny asked, as she tried to keep up with Jake's train of thought.

"Yeah, when my friend Joey was sick in the hospital last year we all made him cards and he said they helped him to feel better." Jake explained.

"I think that sounds like a great idea." Jenny replied,

N*C*I*S

Jenny had just laid Ava down in her crib when she heard the front door open and the sound of voices downstairs, she quickly checked her watch and was surprised to find that it was already 1920. She quietly shut the door to the nursery and slipped into her room to grab her purse before making her way downstairs where Abby and McGee were setting up a movie in the den with Jake and Kelly.

"Hi!" Abby exclaimed, "Kelly said the baby's already in bed and that everyone's eaten."

"Hello, Abby, McGee." Jenny replied, she gave the younger woman an indulgent smile and nodded, "Ava's asleep but she's been fussier than usual all night, so if she wakes up call me and I'll come home, Jake's already had supper but you can make some popcorn if you want, I left everything out on the counter."

"Awesome, I'm sure we'll be just fine, Tony said to say sorry he couldn't make it, he was following up on something at work." Abby said, "what time do you think you'll be home?"

"We should be home between 2100 and 2200, I'll call if we're going to be any later." Jenny promised, "and Abby only the movies from that shelf okay? Nothing scary or inappropriate." She added, pointing to the shelf of Disney and Pixar movies.

"We're watching the Incredibles, nothing bad I promise." Abby replied.

"Alright," Jenny said, she turned to Jake and knelt down in front of him, "you have fun with Abby and Tim okay? Did you make a card for me to bring up?"

"I gave it to Kelly, are you going to be here for breakfast?" He asked hesitantly.

"Of course, and if you're really good tonight for Abby and Tim I'll make a special breakfast tomorrow." Jenny promised with a wink.

"Chocolate chip pancakes?" Jake asked excitedly.

"Deal, but you have to be good for Abby and Tim."

"I will I promise!" He exclaimed happily.

Jenny gave Jake a quick hug and stood up, she gave Abby and McGee some last minute instructions while Kelly tried to usher her out the door, calling out a goodbye over her shoulder.

"They're going to be fine." Kelly promised as she and Jenny climbed into the car, "Jake's a good kid and Abby and Tim are really good with him, besides there are agents outside the house, nothing's going to happen."

Jenny sighed and ran her hand through her hair as she pulled out of the driveway, she knew Kelly was right but with everything that had happened she couldn't help but worry, she was thankful that Kelly was reading it as her being nervous about leaving the kids alone for the first time and not anything more serious.

"I know, I know." Jenny replied, flipping on the radio, "are you sure you're going to be okay doing this?"

"I'll be fine, I want to see him." Kelly replied, she hesitated for a minute before speaking up again, "can I ask you something? I mean you can say no if it's too personal."

Jenny glanced over at the teen and saw the apprehension on her face, "you can ask whatever you want, I can't promise I'll have an answer but I'll try."

"What happened between you and my dad?" Kelly asked slowly.

Jenny looked over at the teen again, completely caught off guard, she wasn't sure what she had been expecting but it certainly hadn't been that.

"What do you mean?" She asked carefully, turning her attention back to the road.

"Were you guys always just friends? Or was there something more?"

Jenny hesitated for a moment, unsure how much to tell the teen. She wanted to tell her the truth, after all Kelly did deserve to know about the two people she was living with and essentially trusting her life to, but she didn't know how much was appropriate.

"I honestly don't know how to answer that Kel." She replied after a minute, "your dad and I were complicated, at one point we were a lot more than just friends, I know that doesn't really answer your question but I honestly have no idea where to even start."

"Did you love him?" Kelly asked suddenly, "I'm sorry that's really personal you don't need to answer that." She quickly apologized, feeling her face flame.

"I never meant to fall for your dad but I did, and I fell hard." Jenny replied honestly, "he was my boss, he wasn't a part of my five point plan, he never fit into the big picture but somehow slowly he became the centre of the big picture. The ironic thing is I don't think he ever really meant for it to happen either, it just sort of did, it snuck up on both of us."

"Did you ever tell him?" Kelly asked quietly.

Jenny smiled fondly and nodded, "I did, I agonized over it for days and when I finally told him he just looked at me, gave me one of his little smirks and said 'that'll be the day'."

"He didn't." Kelly gasped with a cringe.

"Oh he did." Jenny assured her with a laugh.

"Is that why you guys broke up?"

Jenny shook her head slightly, "no, your dad and I both had some issues we needed to deal with, we weren't in a place where we could have made it work so I made a decision and I left, we were living in Europe at the time on assignment and when it was time to come home he got on one plane and I got on another."

"And that was it? You just didn't see each other after that?" Kelly asked.

"Not for six years, and then I just kind of showed back up on his doorstep, as _his_ boss." Jenny replied.

"Was it hard being back?"

"I think it was hard on both of us, we didn't know where we stood, on one level it was like nothing had changed but on another level everything had changed." Jenny responded slowly, "you can't just erase history and your dad and I have one hell of a history."

"Did you still love him?" Kelly asked quietly, "even after everything?"

Jenny gripped the steering wheel tighter and tried to figure out how to respond, finally she nodded slowly.

"I don't think I ever stopped loving your father, he was the most important person in my life for a very long time, first as my boss, then as my partner and my friend."

"And now?" Kelly asked, glancing over at Jenny out of the corner of her eye.

"And now… Now it's still complicated but your father has been there no matter how many bad decisions I've made, and I've made a lot. He's always been the one constant in my life, he's been the one person who's always been there no matter what, through it all he's stayed my best friend and he's given me three amazing kids and a second chance. " Jenny replied, "your dad can be a hard man to like but even on his worst days he is one of the easiest people to love."

 **Alrighty guys, just a bit of a filler chapter, I wanted Jenny to have some bonding time with the kids… This story went a way I never even imagined but my muse was feeling a bit angsty this week so this just kind of happened, plus I think this way Jenny and Kelly will be able to bond a bit quicker than they otherwise would have… Also how do we feel about a boyfriend for Kelly? Thank you guys for all of the awesome reviews and I'd like to give a special shout out to Thas Costa, DS2010, Isles15 and Esquinzo for your constant reviews and support! Please remember I own nothing (or I wouldn't be working six day weeks) and I in no way profit from the writing of this!**

 **~Katie**


	13. An Unexpected Visitor

**Thirteen**

Jenny rested her forehead against the locked door and sighed, she had just finished checking on each of the kids before making her way around the house to make sure everything was locked up tight. She had come home to a quiet and peaceful household, Jake and Ava had both been sound asleep in their respective rooms and Abby and McGee had been quietly watching TV curled up in the den. The pair had left shortly after Jenny and Kelly had returned home and Kelly had disappeared to her room shortly after.

Although she would never admit it to anyone she was feeling completely exhausted and overwhelmed by both the events of the day and of the previous weekend. She silently thanked God for Kelly who had been the only thing keeping what was left of her sanity in tact, she pushed herself off of the door and made her way into the kitchen, flickingT on the small light over the sink as she went, as much as she wanted to just crawl into bed and never leave again she still had a list of things to do half a mile long.

She was halfway through making Jake's lunch when she heard what sounded like heavy footsteps coming through the house, footsteps much too heavy to belong to either of the kids. She looked around the kitchen for any sort of weapon, she had locked her gun in the safe in her office as soon as she had gotten home and hadn't bothered to carry a knife with her, assuming that she would be okay in her own house. _'Never assume'_ she mentally scolded herself. She spotted a small knife on the counter and quickly scooped it up, she momentarily wondered what the hell had happened to the agents who were supposed to be outside her home. She was just about to go investigate the noise when the large overhead light in the kitchen flickered on.

"What the hell do ya think you're gonna do with that?" A gruff voice asked.

Jenny slammed the knife down on the counter angrily, "What the hell do you think you're doing just walking into my house?"

"Well DiNozzo called and said Probie got himself into some more trouble." Retired NIS Agent Mike Franks replied with a shrug.

"So you just hopped on a plane?" Jenny asked incredulously, "What about Leyla and Amira?"

"They'll be fine for a few days, gotta friend checking in on them." Mike replied, "wanted to make sure you and them kids were okay."

"Tony told you?" Jenny asked, she motioned for Mike to have a seat at the island, she had no idea how else to proceed with this relative stranger in her house.

"Probie called me the day you got custody." Mike explained as he took a seat, he tossed his bag on the ground and rubbed his hand roughly over his face as thought about his friend.

Jenny nodded and turned around to switch on the coffee maker.

"Got anything stronger?" Mike asked, he narrowed his eyes at the coffee maker in disdain.

"Bourbon's locked in my office." Jenny replied, "if I go get it are you still going to be here when I get back?"

"I'm not gonna go snooping if that's what you're asking." Mike replied.

He watched her wearily as she left the room to grab the bourbon, he didn't know how he felt about her, he knew Gibbs trusted, even respected the woman and Gibbs didn't give out trust or respect lightly. Mike just wasn't sure whether or not to like the woman, he had a begrudging respect for her but something about her cold personality made him distrust her.

Jenny rolled her eyes but made her way upstairs to grab the bourbon, when she came back downstairs it was to find Mike still seated at the island, a piece of paper out in front of him.

"The boy wants to play soccer?" He asked as he held up the paper for Jenny to see.

"His name is Jake and yes, his teacher suggested it I guess." She replied with a shrug, she poured him a small glass of bourbon and handed it to him.

"You not havin' any? Probie said you liked bourbon."

"I don't drink anymore." Jenny replied as she poured herself a glass of orange juice from the fridge and leaned against the counter.

"You pregnant?"

Jenny choked on her juice, she sputtered for a moment before composing herself enough to respond.

"No I am not pregnant, Mr. Franks." She replied distastefully, "I stopped drinking when I found out we got custody of the kids."

She hadn't had a single drop of alcohol in almost three weeks and she was feeling quite proud of herself for that, she had known for awhile that she needed to start cutting back but finding out that she was going to be responsible for not one but three other human beings had been exactly the push she needed.

"How is my Goddaughter?" Jenny asked in an attempt to change the subject.

She had been shocked when she had received a letter from Leyla Shakarji asking her to be Amira's godmother, Leyla had reasoned that it was because of Jenny and Gibbs that both she and Amira were able to find a home with Franks and justice for Liam. It was only known to Leyla, Mike and Jenny that Jenny had been the one to insure Leyla and Amira's safe passage into Mexico and had fought to obtain dual citizenship for Amira.

"Walkin' and talking up a storm, doesn't make much sense though, kinda like her godmother I guess." Mike replied smartly.

He hadn't completely understood his daughter-in-law's choice in godparents for his granddaughter, Jenny and Gibbs weren't necessarily the best role models for a young child but he had understood her reasoning. Leyla knew that Gibbs and Jenny would both go to the ends of the earth to protect her little girl, even if they only saw her in the pictures Leyla sent once a month.

"They need to come for a visit, I'd like to see both of them and actually get to hold my goddaughter." Jenny stated.

She and Leyla kept in touch through letters and spoke on the phone at least once a month. Jenny knew Leyla needed a woman in her life, especially living in foreign country with a young baby and a grumpy old man and she was happy to be a friend to the younger woman, but they had only met in person briefly.

"They might fly out after this all clears up." Mike replied, he watched Jenny as she finished making what looked to be a school lunch, "looks like you finally started doin' a woman's job."

Jenny glared at Mike but refused to comment, she finished packing Jake's lunch before putting the bag into the fridge.

"I have some paper work to do, you can sleep in Jethro's room if you'd like, it's the first door on the right." She offered.

"Where can I smoke?" Mike asked gruffly, he didn't bother to acknowledge her offer, they both knew he wouldn't leave her and the kids alone, "I'm gonna guess you're not gonna let me smoke inside."

Jenny rolled her eyes but nodded towards the back door, "out back, I'll get you a can or something for your butts, no smoking in front of the kids." She added, she disappeared out onto the back deck, presumably to find him something to put his cigaret butts into.

"You're no fun." Mike muttered, he stood up and picked up his bag.

He turned around to leave the kitchen and stopped in his tracks when he saw a small boy leaning against the doorway, his brown hair was sticking up in every direction and his Spider Man pyjamas hanging off of his small frame.

"I don't know you." He stated quietly.

Mike could see the slight panic in his eyes as he looked around the room for Jenny.

"Your mom, Jenny, is just outside," Mike quickly informed him, he didn't want the boy to freak out or worse, cry.

Jake nodded and seemed to relax a little bit, "can I have some water please?"

Mike nodded slightly and put his bag back down on the counter, he looked around the kitchen until he noticed a small plastic cup in the drying rack beside the sink, he picked it up and filled it with cool tap water before he handed it to the boy.

"Aren't you supposed to be in bed?" Mike asked, as he watched Jake slide onto one of the bar stools at the island.

"I was thirsty and I couldn't sleep." Jake replied quietly, he was afraid that the man in front of him was going to yell or be angry with him for getting up, "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize." Mike quickly said, "your dad has a rule about that or something." He added.

"He's sick." Jake stated.

Mike looked at the boy for a minute, completely at a loss for what to say, he was saved from having to respond when Jenny walked back into the house.

"It's getting cold out." She muttered, she rubbed her arms roughly as she closed and locked the back door, "hey bud," she said in surprise when she turned around to find Jake sitting at the counter, "did you have a bad dream?"

"No, I was thirsty." He replied, he turned to Mike again and suddenly grinned sleepily, "I know who you are!"

Mike looked over at Jenny who only shrugged, she had no idea how Jake would know Mike Franks.

"Abby showed me your picture, she said to call you Grandpa Mike." Jake explained, "I've never had a grandpa before."

Jenny tried to bite back a laugh at the incredulous look on Mike's face, he looked over to her for some assistance but she only shrugged again, as if to say 'you're on your own'.

"Are you all done your water?" Jenny asked when she noticed that Jake was now playing with his empty cup, "come on lets get you back to bed then, you still have school tomorrow."

Jake slid off of his stool and placed his used cup in the sink, he turned to Mike and gave him a small wave.

"Night Grandpa." He added, wandering out of the room tiredly

"You need to fix that." Mike muttered to Jenny as she walked past.

"Do I? Do I really?" She asked sweetly.

She followed Jake into his room and sat down on the edge of his bed waiting until he was comfortable before tucking the blankets in around him, she brushed a hand over his hair and leaned over to place a kiss on his forehead.

"Have a good sleep." She whispered.

She waited until Jake closed his eyes and burrowed his face into the pillow with a happy sigh before she slipped out of the room, leaving the door open a crack behind her. She peeked into Kelly's room to find the teen sound asleep, she stepped across the hall and listened carefully to make sure that Ava was still asleep, unwilling to risk waking the sleeping baby by opening the door, before making her way back downstairs.

She checked the lock on the front door and made sure that all of the windows were tightly shut as she made her way back to the now empty kitchen. It only took her a moment to find Mike seated on the steps of the back deck, a lit cigarette in his hand, she pulled a jacket off the back of one of the kitchen chairs and slipped it on before joining him outside.

Mike didn't bother looking over when he heard the back door slid open and shut, he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye when she settled onto the step beside him her arms crossed over her chest as she leaned forward slightly.

"How bad is it?" Mike asked after a few minutes of silence.

"We won't know until he wakes up." Jenny replied with a small shrug, "hopefully better than last time."

Her one of her biggest fears was that Gibbs would wake up and not remember anything, that she would end up responsible for three kids on her own, or worse that without Gibbs to help her she would lose custody of the children.

"And if it's not?" Mike asked gruffly.

"Then I may need to start drinking again." Jenny replied with a humourless laugh.

"And the kids?" Mike asked, he knew that she wasn't serious about drinking again, he could see how much she cared about the kids, she wouldn't do anything to hurt her chances of keeping them.

"I made a promise to Kelly, no matter what happens they're staying right here." Jenny responded adamantly.

"It wasn't an accident was it." Mike said, it was a statement rather than a question and they both knew it.

"We don't know for sure yet, we're looking into all angles right now." Jenny replied, her inner politician and Director showing.

"That's what the Director's thinkin' what's the Agent thinkin'?" Mike asked, stomping out his cigarette butt only to light another one.

"The Agent side of me is saying that it's too convenient," Jenny stated, "that the whole thing was a set up from beginning to end, I just don't know how or why."

"You think it's case related or something a bit more personal?" Mike asked, his inner agent showing, even though he had been retired for over ten years he knew how the game was played, had a good idea of what was going through Jenny's head at that moment.

"I don't know yet." She said with a frustrated sigh, "he's made a lot of enemies over the last ten years, and probably more before that the problem is trying to figure out exactly what time frame we're looking at and which group of people."

"You don't think it's an ex." Mike stated, he had met almost all of Gibbs' exes and although a few of them were downright crazy he didn't think any of them would try to hurt him.

"No," Jenny replied, "I've met most of them and I don't think that this is their style."

"But you know that they're going to have to look into that angle." Mike pointed out.

Jenny ran her hand through her hair and nodded weakly, she knew that any semblance of a private life she had was about to be blown into a thousand pieces, her only hope was to keep it out of the press.

"I think I need that drink now." She muttered.

She had been keeping it together until that point, had kept up a strong front both for the team and for the kids but all of the resolve she had felt was quickly disappearing only to be replaced by anxiety and trepidation at what she knew was about to happen, her entire world was about to come crashing down around her and she wasn't sure she was ready for it.

 **Well guys, another chapter done, please remember I own nothing it all belongs to DPB! I really love to hear from you guys and reviews are always appreciated! Sorry for such a long wait, I'm in the middle of changing jobs so life is hectic… Thank you guys so much for your patience! (Also I'm still looking for a beta or just someone to bounce ideas off of if anyone is interested?)**

 **Thanks again!**

 **~Katie**


	14. Exes and In-laws

**Fourteen**

Jenny took a deep breath and squared her shoulders as the elevator doors opened in front of her, she stepped off into the bright orange squad-room and glanced around, it was still early enough that half of the Agents were nowhere to be seen. She caught a glimpse of herself in the large window and had to take another deep breath, she didn't look like the director, gone was the skirt and blouse, in their place sharp black pants, a white t-shirt and a navy blue blazer, her hair was pulled back into a short pony tail, her badge was hanging around her neck and her gun was holstered and visible on her hip. Gone was Director Shepard and in her place Special Agent Shepard, the only thing that had remained the same were her signature black heels, she rounded the corner into the bullpen and placed her bag down on Gibbs desk.

Tony glanced up from his computer and nodded at her, he had been expecting her, he had called her the previous afternoon and asked her to come in to consult of some of Gibbs' older cases and undercover ops, freeing him and the rest of the team to focus on more recent cases. He did a double take when he saw her more laid back but somehow much fiercer outfit and raised an eyebrow.

"Are we calling you Director or Agent Shepard today?" He asked, not commenting when she sat down at Gibbs' desk and began booting up the computer.

"It's been made very clear that I'm not welcome here as Director at the current moment." Jenny replied, her voice was free of anger, she was simply stating a fact, "I was barely allowed to do this." She added.

SecNav had called her on her way in to the Navy Yard and made it very clear that she was walking a very thin line helping with the case but Jenny had reminded him that they were short one of their best agents and that it would be in the best interest of the entire agency to get him back as soon as possible.

"We got another agent in to help." Tony stated, Vance had called him the previous evening and had informed him of his decision to bring in extra help, a fact that Tony hadn't been entirely thrilled with.

"Who?" Jenny asked, noticing as she looked around that McGee and Ziva were nowhere to be found.

"No idea, Vance said he was working on it." Tony replied with a shrug, looking over to the elevator when it dinged, he tried not to outwardly groan when he saw who had stepped off the elevator.

It wasn't that he had any bad feelings for the Agent he just wasn't particularly fond of him, he watched a wide grin spread across Jenny's face as she noticed the man who had just entered the bullpen.

"Stan Burley!" She exclaimed with a smirk.

Tony watched as she stood up and walked around Gibbs' desk and walked straight into NCIS Special Agent Stan Burley's open arms.

"Long time no see, Red." Stan muttered against her hair.

Jenny pulled back slightly but kept her hands on Stan's arms, she gave him a sad smile and nodded, it had been too long since she had last seen him. He had been like an older brother to her during her years on Gibbs' team. They had kept in touch after their team had essentially disbanded but it hadn't been the same, life had gotten in the way and they hadn't been able to see each other at all in at least two years, they emailed and occasionally called but that was the extent of it.

"Wish it was under better circumstances." He whispered.

"Me too." Jenny agreed quietly, "me too."

Stan glanced at Jenny's purse on Gibbs' desk and her badge and gun, clearly visible, he gave her a knowing look and raised his eyebrow.

"So do you want to tell me what the hell happened or are you going to pull a Gibbs and leave me to guess and fill in the blanks?" Stan asked.

"If I knew I would tell you, but we don't know anything yet." Jenny replied, deciding to focus on the case rather than her personal life.

"That's not what I meant and you know it." Stan replied, he narrowed his eyes at her and waited to see if she would add more, "I was talking more about the e-mail I got last night informing me that the Director of NCIS was taking a leave of absence." He added when she remained silent, "I figured it would be pointless to call you and ask about it so I called Decker."

Jenny cringed inwardly, Special Agent William Decker had been on Gibbs' team at the same time as her and Stan and he had gone with them to Europe. She and Decker had always been particularly close, while Stan was like a fun loving brother to her Decker had filled the role of the protective and responsible older brother, he had always been the person Jenny had turned to when she was in trouble or needed someone to talk to. She had called him the night she and Gibbs had met Kelly for the first time, she had felt overwhelmed and panicked and had fallen back on her old friend for comfort.

"He told me about the kids." Stan stated quietly, mindful of the other people milling in the squad-room, "And about you and Gibbs."

Jenny sighed and brought a hand up to her temple, she could feel a massive headache coming on and didn't have the time or energy to deal with it. She motioned for Stan to follow her and lead him to the back elevator, she stepped on and waited for the doors to close before she hit the emergency stop button.

"I thought only Gibbs was allowed to do that." Stan stated warily.

"My agency," Jenny replied with a shrug, "At least for now." She added, "ask what you want to ask."

"How long were and you and Gibbs together?" Stan asked.

The only people who had actually been witness to their affair had been Ducky, Decker and FBI Senior Agent Fornell and Fornell had found out by accident when he had walked into Gibbs' house unannounced while they had been on leave from Europe, he hand't seen anything inappropriate but he'd seen enough to put two and two together.

"Just over a year." Jenny replied, she leaned against the wall and waited for the rest of Burley's questions to come.

"Did he try something?" Stan asked, anger flashing in his eyes, "did he make you do something you didn't want to?"

"Tread carefully, Stan." Jenny warned firmly, "that's the father of my children you're talking about and you know Jethro would never do something like that. Nothing happened between us until we were in Europe, he wasn't my boss anymore, we were partners, he didn't pull rank or give me any unfair treatment."

Stan held up his hands in surrender and nodded, "I wasn't trying to say he would, I just want to make sure you weren't put in a bad position."

"We were both adults, we both knew what we were doing and it was consensual." She replied.

She realized as she said it that it was partially a lie, while everything had been consensual and they had both been adults they'd had no idea what they had been getting themselves into. It had started as casual sex, a way to blow off steam and cope with the stress of their op and somewhere along the way it had become something neither of them had ever imagined possible.

"And now?" Stan asked, watching her carefully.

"Now we're raising our kids together… We're figuring it out as we go but we're not _together_ if that's what you're asking." She replied slowly.

"I still can't believe Gibbs has a daughter." Stan stated after a moment, "he's good with kids but I just can't see him as a dad."

"He's a great dad." Jenny admitted quietly, "the kids adore him and he would do anything for them."

"Decker didn't tell me much about them, only enough for me to know what I was walking into."

Jenny pulled her personal cell phone out of her pocket and pulled up a picture of them and the kids, it had been taken by Abby at the barbecue Sunday afternoon, he and Jenny were leaning against the deck railing, he had an arm draped loosely over her shoulder, he was holding Ava in his free arm, Jake was standing between them and Kelly was standing beside Jenny who had her arm wrapped around the teens waist

"That's Kelly, Jake and Ava." Jenny said, pointing to each of the kids.

"She looks like him." Stan commented, taking the phone from Jenny to get a closer look.

"They're a lot alike." Jenny replied.

Although Kelly and Gibbs couldn't be more different in their attitudes they had the same sense of loyalty, generosity and the same heart, Kelly simply wore hers on her sleeve while Gibbs kept his well hidden.

"He looks happy here." Stan stated, he had seen Gibbs' signature smirk, had even seen the occasional grin but the look on his face in the photo was true happiness.

"He's a different person around the kids." Jenny replied.

It was true, although he was still his gruff relatively silent self most of the time when the kids were around it was like he became a complete different version of himself.

Stan swiped to the next picture and couldn't hide his grin, it was of Jenny and Gibbs leaning over the deck railing, they seemed to be grinning at something off camera.

"You look happy."

He had seen Jenny happy over the years but he had never seen her looking as at peace as she did in the photo in front of him.

"I was, I mean I am." She corrected quickly, "I wish things were different right now, it's hard and it's exhausting but I love the kids."

"Are you doing okay doing it alone?" Stan asked, concerned about her pushing herself too hard.

He could see the exhaustion she was fighting so hard to hide, he could see the stress written all over her face and he knew that she was fighting just to keep a straight face and remain standing but if anything could be said about Jenny Shepard it was that she was a fighter.

"I'm not alone." Jenny stated, "Kelly is a huge help and Jethro's team makes sure that we don't need anything, they babysit and Tony is running everything here so that I can be with the kids as much as possible. Mike Franks flew in last night, he's staying with us right now."

"Mike Franks? Gibbs' old boss?" Stan asked in surprise.

Jenny nodded, "He's been a life saver."

As much as she hated to admit it Jenny wasn't sure she could have survived the previous evening without Mike, Ava had been up most of the night in obvious discomfort, Jenny had panicked but Mike had calmly informed her that it was probably just teething and that Leyla had gone through the same thing with Amira.

"I figured he'd be more of a pain in the ass than a life saver." Stan replied skeptically.

"I'm still learning how to take care of a baby, he knows what he's doing. His granddaughter is six months older than Ava." Jenny explained, she leaned forward and switched the elevator back on, pressing the button to take them down to Abby's lab.

"Mike Franks has a granddaughter?" Stan asked in shock as they stepped off the elevator.

He had only met the older man once and had instantly written him off as a bitter old grouch, not the type to have kids and especially not the type to have grandkids. He watched as Jenny nodded before making her way into Abby's lab, he could hear the loud music pouring out of Abby's lab and inwardly winced, he had no idea how she could concentrate with that noise.

"What do you have Abby?" Jenny called out over the ridiculously loud music, she had just walked through the door when she noticed that the door to Abby's inner office was closed, she could see Leon Vance and older man standing talking to her.

Jenny waited for Abby to take notice of them and only made her way into the office when Abby motioned them over.

"What do you have for me, Abby?" Jenny asked again, giving a polite nod to Vance and the man standing beside him, something seemed vaguely familiar about the older man but she couldn't place it.

"Um, well right now I have a whole lot of nothing, McGee and I are still working on tracing the call and we're running a partial print we found at the seen through AFIS but I don't think we'll get a match." Abby replied, gesturing nervously with her hands as she talked, "but um, Agent - Acting Director Vance might have something for you, this is Jackson Gibbs." Abby said, motioning to the man beside Vance, "Gibbs' father."

Jenny barely managed to contain her surprise, now that she knew who he was she understood why he looked so familiar to her, he and Gibbs had the same eyes. She could see Burley's eyes darting back and forth between Jenny and Jackson, trying to figure out how Jenny was going to react.

"It's nice to meet you, sir." Jenny said, holding out her hand politely.

"No need for that, just Jack will be fine." Jack replied kindly, shaking her hand in between both of his, "are you working my sons case?"

"I'm just lending a hand, this is Special Agent Burley he is one of the main Agents on the case," Jenny introduced the two, "have you seen your son yet?"

"Not yet, my plane landed early this morning and the hospital doesn't allow visitors before 0900, Director Vance asked if I could come in and answer some questions, I don't know how much help I'll be my son and I aren't in contact often." Jack replied, "I don't believe I got your name."

"Jenny Shepard, and he did, did he?" Jenny asked, not bothering to hide the glare she was sending Vance's way, "why don't you follow Agent Burley, he'll take you to our conference room and get you comfortable, and once we're done asking questions I'll take you up to the hospital and make sure you get in to see your son."

"You know my son well?" Jack asked, studying the obviously fiery redhead in front of him.

"You could say that." Jenny replied vaguely.

She waited until Stan had lead Jackson out of the room before turning an angry look on Leon Vance.

"How did he know to be here?" She asked, her voice dangerously low.

"I'm just gonna…" Abby muttered, gesturing to the doorway.

"Stay right there." Jenny ordered firmly, stopping the younger woman in her tracks, "How did Jackson Gibbs know to be here? Because I certainly didn't call him and I know none of Agent Gibbs' team did."

"I called him yesterday, I assumed that Agent Gibbs would want his father around to make decisions." Vance replied, "And I assumed that his father would want to know his son was in the hospital."

"All due respect to Mr. Gibbs but he doesn't get to make decisions regarding his son, that responsibility falls to his next of kin and whoever has power of attorney." Jenny reminded him.

"Is it not his father?" Vance asked.

"No it is not, how did you even find his father's number?" Jenny asked, she hadn't even been aware that Gibbs' father was alive until she had seen him.

"His information was in Gibbs' file, it was near the back but it was there." Vance replied, "I just assumed that his father would be his next of kin."

Jenny wasn't sure she's be able to respond to that without yelling so she simply turned on her heel and left the room, leaving Abby and Vance alone.

"Just for future reference we have a rule around here about making assumptions, don't do it, in case it ever comes up it's rule eight." Abby informed him.

Vance raised an eyebrow but nodded, "and in the interest of following rule eight, who is Special Agent Gibbs' next of kin?"

"I honestly don't know." Abby replied, she had never looked into Gibbs file, she was willing to bet that it was Ducky or Tony listed as his emergency contact but she had never actually confirmed it, she had no need to know and that was one area where she was content to tamp down her curiosity.

Upstairs Jenny took a deep breath and ran her hand over her face before slipping into the conference room where Burley and Jackson Gibbs were both seated, Burley had a notepad open in front of him and Jack was seated at the end of the table, his hands folded in front of him.

"You don't take notes on your phone or a computer?" Jack asked as Jenny shut the door behind her and took a seat across from Burley.

"Some Agents do but I was taught that nothing beats paper." Stan replied, grinning as he thought of the man who had taught him that.

"I always though it better to keep up with technology." Jack commented.

Burley couldn't stop the small chuckle that escaped him, "it's funny you should say that, your son is the biggest technophobe I know."

"You know my son?" Jack asked.

"I started on his team." Burley replied, "I learned everything I know from your son."

"He was a good teacher?" Jack asked, sounding almost desperate to know anything about his son.

"Gibbs doesn't teach, you watch and you learn." Jenny stated, smiling fondly at the memory of her first day at NCIS and Gibbs saying those exact words to her.

"That doesn't sound like the best method." Jack said skeptically.

"Some of our best agents have started out working for your son, he's one of our best." Jenny stated, she felt oddly defensive of Gibbs, "his methods are unorthodox but they work."

"When was the last time you spoke to your son?" Stan asked, turning the subject back to the matter at hand.

"Almost twelve years ago now." Jack replied, "at the girls funeral."

"You never spoke after that?" Stan asked, "can I ask why?"

"We had a disagreement, I honestly can't remember what it was about now, my son and I very rarely saw eye to eye on most things and he's about as stubborn as they come." Jack stated.

Jenny fought to keep back a very undignified snort at Jack's comment, she knew just how stubborn Gibbs could be, she was just as bad as he was and it made for some epic fights between the two of them. She also knew that if they hadn't spoken in twelve years there was a very low chance Jackson Gibbs would have any information that could help them.

"We don't have anymore questions for you Mr. Gibbs but I do need to discuss a few things with you." Jenny said, trying to keep her voice even, she was dreading the conversation she was about to have but she knew it needed to be done sooner rather than later.

"I'm going to go check in with Abby." Stan stated, excusing himself from the room without waiting for a reply.

He closed the door to the conference room and couldn't help but feel a bit of pity for Jenny, the conversation she was about to have wouldn't be an easy one or a fun one by any means.

N*C*I*S

Jenny stood in the doorway of the hospital room and watched as Jackson Gibbs took a seat beside his son, there had been no change in Gibbs' condition and she could tell Jack was having a hard time seeing his son confined to a hospital bed, she couldn't imagine how she would feel if it were Jake or one of the girls in that bed.

"Is he in pain?" Jack asked quietly.

"The doctors don't think so." Jenny replied.

She watched Jack pick up the handmade card that was sitting on Gibbs' bedside table, it was a stick figure drawing of the entire team and the kids in front of what looked like their house, the words ' _Get Well Soon Daddy!'_ were written across the top in Kelly's neat handwriting, Kelly and Jake had both signed the inside of the card and Kelly had signed Ava's name in sloppy writing.

"Did the kids make this?" Jack asked, holding up the card.

"It was Jake's idea," Jenny explained with a small smile, "Kelly helped him with the writing."

Jack had been shocked to find out that his granddaughter was alive but he had taken the news in stride, he had had many questions that Jenny had answered to the best of her abilities but the even bigger shock had been how excited he had been at the prospect of two new grandchildren on top of having his oldest granddaughter back. Jenny had been terrified that the man wouldn't accept Jake and Ava as a part of his family but her fear had been pointless, Jack had fawned over the pictures of all three kids Jenny had shown him and couldn't wait to hold his youngest granddaughter and meet his first grandson.

"Who are all of these people?" Jack asked.

"That's us," Jenny replied pointing to herself, Gibbs and the kids, "that's Abby Sciuto, you met her this morning, and then Agent's Tony DiNozzo and Tim McGee, Officer Ziva David, Ducky and Jimmy Palmer, they're all members of your sons team." She explained, pointing at each stick figure as she spoke.

Although they weren't incredibly detailed each figure had a defining feature that told her who it was, whether it was a bow tie, Jimmy's glasses, Abby's pigtails, each person had their defining feature showed through the eyes of a seven year old.

Jack looked at the card for a minute longer before placing it down on the bedside table, he picked up the other card that was sitting there, this one was store boughten but Jenny knew that even if he never said it Gibbs would treasure it just as much as the other card. The message inside was written in Abby's handwriting, ' _To the Strongest Man we Know, Get Well Soon, We Need our Fearless Leader Back! With all of our Love,'_ and each member of the team had signed underneath.

Jack had so many questions about the people who had signed this card, obviously they were a big part of his sons life but he wasn't sure whether or not Jenny would be willing to give him answers. She had been open about anything he wanted to know regarding the kids but she had avoiding any of his questions about his sons personal life.

He peeked over at Jenny who was still leaning in the doorway and noticed that she was frowning down at her phone and fiddling with the chain that held her badge.

"You must have to get back to work." Jack commented, watching as Jenny looked up from her phone guiltily, "I think I'll spend the day here if that's okay, I'll find a hotel nearby… Maybe I could meet the kids at some point." He added hesitantly.

"There is no need to find a hotel, you can stay with us, I'm sure the kids would love to have you around." Jenny assured him, "and besides that way you'll have a chance to get to know them better."

"Thank you," Jack replied, he wasn't going to turn down the chance to spend as much time as possible with his grandkids, "if you want to write down the address I can take a cab over after."

"Just call me when you're ready to go and either myself or Agent Burley will come and pick you up." Jenny offered, she wrote her number down on a piece of paper and handed it to Jack, "this is my personal cell number on top and this is my work number just in case you can't get a hold of my cell.'

Jack nodded and they exchanged a slightly awkward goodbye before Jenny slipped out of the room, nodding at the agent outside of the door as she went.

N*C*I*S

Jenny parked her car with a relieved sigh, after leaving Jack at the hospital she had gone back to the Navy Yard and had spent the day pouring over old case files, trying to find any connections between the old cases and herself or Gibbs, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack and it had been exhausting. She rested her forehead against the top of the steering wheel and took a deep breath before sitting up and unbuckling herself, she waved at her security team as she carefully pulled Ava's carseat out of the backseat. The baby had dozed off on their way home from the Navy Yard and Jenny was dreading what that would mean for bedtime later, she could hear laughter and barking coming from the backyard and she couldn't help the small smile that came over her face.

With Mike staying in Gibbs' room, the guest room which had been full of boxes, had quickly needed to be cleared out for Jack to use, Abby had volunteered to go to the house to unpack whatever boxes she could and move the rest either into the small storage room or Jenny's room. Jenny knew that just waiting around for news was killing Abby. They hadn't been able to provide her with much physical evidence from the crime scene and she was quickly growing restless trying to create something out of nothing so Jenny had agreed to let her go, knowing it would be better for everyone if she could get out for a bit and refocus her mind.

Jenny bypassed the front door making her way around to the backyard instead where she found Jake and Mike throwing a ball for Jethro the dog.

"You're doing it wrong, Grandpa!" Jake exclaimed with a laugh, "see he likes it better if you roll the ball."

Jenny watched with a smirk as Mike grumbled something under his breath and glared at the dog, but when he got the ball back he obediently rolled it the way Jake had shown him.

"You're boy is a pain." Mike muttered when Jenny approached him.

Jenny rolled her eyes but she could see the fondness in Mike's eyes, no matter how much of a 'pain' Jake was.

"Come say hi to your Mom and sister, boy!" Mike called, dragging Jake's attention away from the large german shepherd who was wiggling happily on the ground.

Jake looked up from Jethro and grinned widely before racing over to Jenny and wrapping his arms around her waist, grinning up at her widely.

"I made the soccer team!" He proclaimed proudly without bothering to say hello.

"You did?" Jenny exclaimed, forgetting how tired and stressed she was when she saw the excited look on the seven year old's face, "that's awesome! I'm so proud of you!"

She handed the carseat over to Mike so she could bend down and wrap her arms around Jake properly, she stood up and ran her hand over his messy hair in an attempt to straighten it out.

"You're hair is a disaster." She stated with a grin, "where are Abby and Kelly?"

"Kelly is in her room doing homework and Abby is in the house I think." Jake replied, "look what Abby brought!" He added, pointing at Jethro who was now crouched on the ground, his tongue hanging out waiting for Jake to throw the ball.

"I saw him." Jenny said, holding out her hand for the dog to sniff, "I'm going to bring your sister inside, the team is going to bring supper over in a bit okay?"

She didn't bother waiting for him to answer, his attention was back on the dog who was jumping around playfully, she took the baby carrier back from Mike and made her way inside, where she found Abby standing in the kitchen, fussing with a large bag.

"What do you have there?" Jenny asked, trying not to smirk when Abby visibly jumped.

"Why does everyone in this house insist on doing that?" Abby exclaimed, her hand flying over her heart, "is it a Gibbs thing because Kelly can do it and you can do it and it's terrifying."

"I'm not a Gibbs." Jenny reminded her, not bothering to hid her grin as she carefully removed Ava from her seat, "you're okay." She cooed softly when the baby started fussing.

"Still you guys are all scarily quiet." Abby replied, lowering her voice slightly, "and _this,"_ she added, pointing to the bag, "is a house warming gift for you and Gibbs. I know he's not here to open it right now but I figured you could probably use a bit of a pick me up."

Jenny ventured over to the table and shifted Ava in her arms a few times before she finally handed her off to Abby, needing both of her hands to open the large bag in front of her. She reached into the bag and pulled out three large picture frames, she carefully opened the first one to reveal a framed photo of Gibbs, Jenny and the three kids that had been taken outside the courthouse after their custody hearing. Jenny and Gibbs stood in the middle with Ava held between them, Gibbs had an arm wrapped around Kelly while Jenny had her free arm wrapped around Jake. The next was an identical white frame with an old photo of Jenny and Gibbs in it, they were standing outside their Serbian safe house, Gibbs' arms were wrapped around her waist, hands clasped over her stomach, they were both smiling at each other instead of at the camera, wide grins spread across their faces.

"Did Ducky give you this?" Jenny asked, running her finger lightly over the photo, she smiled softly when Abby nodded.

She placed the frame on the table before moving on to the last package, another white frame with a photo of the entire team standing in front of the court house. Gibbs and Jenny were once again in the middle, Ava held between them and Jake in front of them, Kelly was next to Jenny this time her arm around her shoulder, with Ziva next to her followed by Abby, on Gibbs' right was Tony with McGee next to him followed by Ducky and Palmer. The entire group was smiling broadly at the camera, all of them dressed up for court in their own unique way.

"These are amazing, Abby, thank you." She whispered.

"I thought maybe they could go above the fireplace in the living room, I mean you can put them anywhere you want but-"

"I think that would be perfect." Jenny cut her off, "they really are gorgeous Abby."

The photo of herself and Gibbs in Serbia brought a small pang of sadness, it had been such a good week, their last real week together before everything had fallen a part, that had been the last picture they had taken together, it had always been one of Jenny's favourites.

"Kelly's upstairs in her room." Abby said, breaking Jenny out of her memories, "I haven't said anything about Jack to her, I figured you would want to explain it to her, I'll keep and eye on Ava while you talk to her."

"Thanks, Abbs." Jenny replied softly still looking down at the pictures in front of her.

 **Well guys, here's another chapter, I'm not entirely pleased with this one but I don't think it's getting much better, please remember I own nothing it all belongs to DPB! I really love to hear from you guys and reviews are always appreciated! This chapter and the next were originally one very long chapter but it was over 10,000 words so I split it up into two parts, the next half will be coming shortly!**

 **Thanks again!**

 **~Katie**


	15. Exes and In-laws Part Two

**Fifteen**

Jenny leaned against the porch railing with Ava in her arms and watched Jack and Kelly embracing in the driveway, she tried to swallow around the lump in her throat but found it impossible. Kelly had been over the moon when Jenny had told her about Jack, she hadn't even waited for Jack to get out of the car before she had bolted out of the house and ran to him.

"You okay?" Stan asked quietly as he came to stand beside her.

Jenny nodded silently and ran her hand over Ava's head, enjoying having the baby so close and using her as a slight distraction. Ava was still half asleep and was laying against Jenny with her head tucked into the crook of her neck happily.

"So this is Ava?" Stan asked, nodding down a the infant, "She looks so small."

"She's a bit small for her age." Jenny replied, she had learned through D'Arcy that Ava had been five and a half weeks pre-mature, "but she's strong."

Jenny watched as Stan hesitantly reached out and ran his hand over the baby's warm back, she tried to hide her smirk at how gentle he was with her.

"She's not going to break if you touch her." She promised, "I was the same way when we first got her but trust me she's tough, you can hold her if you want."

She tried not to laugh when Stan's eyes grew comically large as he held up his hands.

"I think I'll just look at her for now." He stated, his voice slightly panicked, "she looks pretty happy where she is, besides I think Grandpa is going to want to hold her." He added, nodding at Jack and Kelly who were walking towards them.

"Hello again!" Jack greeted happily as he made his way up the stairs, followed closely by Kelly, "you must be Ava." He cooed softly, running his hand over her back.

"She's still trying wake up," Jenny explained, "can you say hi to Grandpa please." She whispered, running her finger over the baby's cheek.

They were rewarded with a toothless grin and a small coo as Ava slowly began to perk up, Jenny was just about to invite both Jack and Stan inside when there was a loud crash followed by barking.

"Everything is okay!" Abby's voice called from inside the house.

Jenny sighed and rolled her eyes as she let everyone in the front door.

"It was Grandpa's fault! He scared Jetty!" Jake called out as he ran out of the living room and directly into Stan who quickly reached down to steady the boy before he fell over.

"You better watch it boy, or the dog won't be the only thing afraid." Mike grumbled as he followed Jake into the foyer.

"You're not scary." Jake informed him before turning back to Stan, "I don't know you."

"I'm…" Stan trailed off looking over at Jenny, he had no idea what she wanted the kids to call him.

"That's your Uncle Stan." Jenny supplied with a small shrug, she didn't want the kids, especially Jake and eventually Ava, to be calling adults by their first name and she figured Uncle Stan was better than Agent Burley.

"Sure," Stan replied, "I'm your Uncle Stan."

"And this is your Grandpa Jack." Jenny added, motioning to Jack who was watching the boy with amusement and affection in his eyes.

"I have two Grandpa's?" Jake asked, looking back and forth between Mike and Jack who were eyeing each other warily, "cool!"

"Hey Jake why don't we show Uncle Stan your room?" Kelly suggested, sensing the tension that was slowly rising in the room.

"Can we show Grandpa Jack too?" Jake asked excitedly.

"I'm going to show Grandpa Jack where his room is and then I'll bring him to your room." Jenny promised.

Jenny watched as Jake took off up the stairs, followed closely by Kelly, Stan and the dog who was determined to stick close to Jake.

"I'll show you up to the guest room." Jenny offered.

She hadn't actually set foot in the guest room aside from when they had first put boxes in there, but what she found when she opened the door didn't surprise her at all, simple dark furniture contrasted the pale blue walls. The functional white duvet and pillows on the bed screamed of Gibbs but the hand knit white and navy blue blanket on the end of the bed and navy blue throw pillows could only be Abby's personal touch. The simple but elegant white picture frames filled with team photos were more Tony's style while the older laptop and printer on the desk, both covered in MIT stickers, were obviously McGee's. Ziva's presence in the room was more subtle, a small mezuzah was fixed to the doorframe and a few books in hebrew were scattered around the room, Jenny was willing to bet the mezuzah had been put there by Abby to make Ziva feel more at home, where she was sure the books were Ziva's personal contribution.

"I'll let you get unpacked," Jenny stated quietly, she shifted Ava on her hip and waited for Jackson to nod before she slipped out of the room.

She peeked into Jake's room where the boy was talking excitedly with Burley before she continued on downstairs where she found Abby in the kitchen working on something on her laptop.

"Thank you for setting up the guest room for me, it looks great." She said, setting Ava down in her highchair and placing a few toys on the tray in front of her, "it saved me a lot of time."

"It was no problem, I left a few boxes in your room that were labeled personal but most of the stuff in there I unpacked and set up, half of it was our stuff anyway." Abby replied with a shrug, "the rest of the team is on their way, they're picking up Chinese food for supper, is that okay?"

Jenny nodded and took a seat at the island, "I told Tony what to grab before I left, he has my credit card to pay for it."

"You don't have to do that!" Abby argued, "We can all pitch in for it."

"You guys haven't stopped working, not only on this but helping us with moving and with the kids, I can buy you dinner." Jenny replied waving her hand tiredly.

"Is there any point in arguing with you?" Abby asked, grinning when Jenny simply raised an eyebrow, "Well thank you then."

"You're welcome." Jenny replied, "where should we eat?"

"Is there enough room in the dining room? Ducky won't be able to make it, he's having dinner with his mother but Palmer is coming." Abby said, "with Stan, Franks and Gibbs' dad there'll be twelve of us I think."

"If we bring some extra chairs and squish the dining room should be fine." Jenny replied, sliding off of the stool to grab dishes, "did you bring food for the dog?"

"I have some in my bag, I'll feed him later." Abby answered, "I have to bring him back to Tim's place before I head back into work after supper, I just didn't want him cooped up alone all day."

"He can stay here tonight if you want, Jake really likes him." Jenny offered, "it's nice to see him smiling again."

As much as she really didn't need another thing on her plate she knew that having the dog spend the night would make Jake's day and take his mind off of everything else and she was willing to do anything at that point to make the kids lives easier.

"I have all of his stuff with me if your sure you don't mind, he gets antsy if he's left home alone to much and I have no idea when we're actually going to get a break between this and the other cases I'm working on."

"I don't mind, as long as he behaves around the kids he's fine." Jenny replied.

She hadn't forgotten how violent the dog had been when McGee had first gotten him but he had been an angle since Abby had begun to care for him and he seemed fine with the kids now, as long as it stayed that way she didn't care if Jake wanted him around.

"You might just have to get a dog when all of this is over." Abby stated with a grin, "add a little bit of extra chaos to the house."

"That's what we need." Jenny muttered with a small smirk, grinning even more when Ava squealed loudly and tossed one of her toys on the ground. "even more chaos."

"A little bit of chaos is good for the heart." Abby said quietly, "I know this hasn't been easy but you've handled it really well."

"Thanks, Abbs." Jenny replied, "hopefully it gets a bit better."

"It has to, I won't accept anything else." Abby replied firmly.

Jenny looked at her sadly and shrugged, "sometimes things aren't so simple Abby. Sometimes you can't control the outcome, you just have to look at the reality in front of you and accept it. I want to say that everything is going to work out, that everything will be perfect in the end but this is real life and that's not how real life works."

"Maybe just this once that's how real life will work, I've seen lot of bad stuff in my life, we all have, but I've also seen a lot of bad turn to good, you just have to have faith." Abby stated, "I can't just accept that we won't get him back, he's Gibbs, he always comes back for his family."

Jenny desperately wanted to believe her, wanted to have the blind faith in Gibbs and God that Abby did but she just couldn't bring herself to hope, to allow herself to believe that this could turn out anyway but badly. If she got her hopes up and lost him again she wasn't sure she would be able to survive it this time.

"I really hope you're right." She admitted quietly before grabbing the plates and making her way into the dining room.

Abby closed her laptop and looked at Ava sadly, the baby was grinning and chewing on her fist like nothing was wrong with the world.

"Daddy's going to come back." She whispered, reaching out to brush the baby's wispy hair out of her face, "I promise."

She waited for Jenny to come back into the kitchen before silently slipping out, she debated where to go for a minute before slipping upstairs, she passed Jake's room where he was happily showing Jack and Stan his room, she passed Ava's empty nursery and stopped in front of Kelly's room. The door was opened a crack but she still knocked and waited for Kelly's quiet come in before opening the door. Kelly was sitting crosslegged on her bed a book open in front of her. Abby gently closed the door behind her when she saw the teen quickly swipe at her eyes, trying to hide the fact that she had obviously been crying.

"Oh, Kel." Abby whispered, "what can I do?"

She didn't bother to ask what was wrong, it was a pointless question. Kelly blinked rapidly and shrugged, there was nothing Abby could do, there was nothing anyone could do and they both knew it. Abby hesitated for a second before climbing up onto the bed and wrapping an arm around the teen.

"What're you reading?" She asked quietly before peeking at the open book.

She immediately recognized it, having spent much of her own teenage and adult years reading the same pages, the Bible, her go to when she was feeling discouraged or hopeless. She looked at the well worn pages, the highlighter marks and the faded notes in the margins, the book was very obviously well loved.

"My favourite verse is Isaiah 41:10." Abby stated quietly when Kelly didn't respond.

"Fear thou not for I am with thee, be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea I will help thee; yea I will uphold thee, with my righteous right hand." Kelly whispered after a moment, "I like that one."

"It certainly fits right now." Abby added.

"I don't feel very upheld right now." Kelly stated, her voice barely a whisper. "I feel like everything I've ever believed in was completely pointless, what kind of God would let me have the one thing I've spent my whole life praying for only to take it away two days later?"

"Hey," Abby whispered softly, "nothing is being taken away okay? You're dad is going to be just fine, and as for God you just have to have faith, Kel. Think about it this way, when Ava starts to walk will you be able to stop her from falling every time?"

"No…"

"Sometimes she's going to fall, it's normal, she's going to fall and she's going to cry but you'll be right there to pick her up, kiss it better and help her to keep on going. God does the same thing, he can't stop every bad thing from happening to us, sometimes bad things happen to remind us to appreciate the good, to help us to learn something we didn't realize we needed to know, God can't stop the bad but he can be there to listen and to help us keep going." Abby said quietly.

"If he's there to listen then why do I feel so alone right now?" Kelly asked, her voice breaking as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"During a test the teacher is always silent," Abby replied, "they're always silent but they never leave the room. Sometimes God needs to watch us struggle because at the end of the test we're going to learn something from it that we wouldn't have learned otherwise but he never leaves our side, as cheesy as it is if he leads you to it I can promise he'll lead you through it."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I've been through a lot of hard stuff and God has never let me down, he's been silent, he's waited for me to figure it out on my own but he's always been there." Abby replied with a small shrug, "and as for being alone, you are never ever alone Kelly, you have a family who will do anything they can to take care of you. You have your dad and Jenny, Jake and Ava and you have all of us, we may not be conventional but we are your family."

 **So this chapter took a turn I definitely didn't plan on, I do not want to offend anyone with the mentions of God and I hope that this will not deter you from reading further but I felt that this would be a conversation that could be pivotal in Abby and Kelly's relationship. I don't think that it would be out of character for Abby to talk about God especially if prompted, (we see her praying in season fifteen as well as multiple mentions of her faith throughout the series.) The bible verses are both KJV and personal favourites of mine. There are a few lines in here, Jenny's statement about changing the outcome and Abby's statement about bad to good (originally said by Gibbs I believe), that are from NCIS and as such belongs to DPB and CBS (as do all of the characters), as usual I make no profit from this or I wouldn't need to work fifty hour weeks :p…As this is still not beta'd all mistakes are mine… Thank you all for your continued support and I love to hear from you all!**

 **~Katie**

 **P.S I know JIBBS is like the ultimate ship but I absolutely love Jack (Sloan) and Gibbs and the episode with Elena absolutely** **made me die of happiness, I have begun to write a continuation of that episode and was wondering if you guys would be interested in reading it?**


	16. Keeping the Faith

**Sixteen**

"If you finish it now you'll be able to play the rest of the night." Abby encouraged, leaning over Jake's shoulder to point out a mistake in his math homework.

"Why don't grown ups have homework?" Jake asked as he corrected the mistake.

"Because we had to do homework when we were your age too, it's a part of growing up." Jack spoke up from the kitchen table where he was feeding Ava her dinner.

Abby grinned as she watched Ava spit out another mouthful of food, she was wearing more than she had eaten at that point and Abby could tell Jack was about ready to give up.

"And besides adults still have homework too, I'm working on homework right now." Abby added, pointing to her laptop on the kitchen table.

She was trying to catch up on her reports for other teams while she had a minute of free time, although she was beginning to suspect she wasn't going to get any real work done.

"Do you have to do homework, Grandpa?" Jake asked turning to Jack.

"Sure do, I have to do paperwork for my shop all the time." Jack replied, "it goes by quicker if you don't complain about it and just get it done." He added with a small smile

"Okay." Jake replied with a sigh.

Abby grinned as the boy turned back to his homework, she moved back to the kitchen table and tried to concentrate on filling out her report, the house was too quiet for her liking, a rare occurrence with three kids running around. Kelly was in her room attempting to get her homework done before the rest of the team showed up, Jenny, Stan and Mike were on the back deck and the dog was sleeping in the living room, completely exhausted from running around with Jake.

She had finished one line of her report when her computer started to ring and familiar face flashed across the screen, announcing a video call, she smiled widely before clicking answer.

"Pride!" She squealed, scaring both Jack and Jake enough that they jumped in surprise, "How are you?"

"I think I should be askin' you that." NCIS Special Agent Dwayne Cassius Pride replied, "how are you all doing, Boo?"

"We're doing as good as can be expected." Abby replied, "keeping our chins up and marching on."

"Where are ya? Doesn't look like you're at home." Pride stated, eyeing the bright kitchen behind Abby.

"I'm at Jenny and Gibbs' place, we're taking a break for supper before heading back to work." She explained rotating the computer slightly so he could see the kitchen.

"There's a sentence I never thought I'd hear again." Pride stated with a grin, "nice lookin' place though, is my favourite sister in law around?"

"Don't let her hear you calling her that, she might actually beat you to death this time." Abby warned with a grin, "she's just outside with Burley and Franks."

"No doubt having a smoke," Pride replied his grin widening, "you got the whole gang there, has Franks suckered Burley and Shep into smoking with him yet?"

Abby peeked out the window and shook her head, "they're behaving for the time being." She caught Jenny's eye and waved for them to come inside, nodding her head towards her computer.

"That's a first, don't think I've ever heard of Jenny Shepard behaving herself." Pride replied, winking at Abby.

"Are you trash talking me again?" Jenny asked with a smirk as she appeared behind Abby.

"You're supposed to warn me that she's coming." Pride said, mock glaring at Abby, "And of course not, was just telling Abby what a gorgeous home you've got there."

"Smooth talking will get you nowhere." Jenny replied, "but thank you, how have you been, King?"

"Apparently better than you," He replied, "hey Franks, heard your boy was bein' a problem again." He said when Franks appeared behind Jenny.

"My boy is always a problem." Mike grumbled, "you and your ' _brother'_ are the reason I've got grey hair."

"You had grey hair well before we showed up, old man." Pride replied with a smirk, "now we might be the reason Jenny has grey hair."

"Excuse me?" Jenny exclaimed.

"Been married for a long time Jenny, blonde highlights are a great way to hide grey hair, nice try though." He teased.

"How is Linda doing?" Jenny asked, choosing to ignore his teasing, "you guys just had a big anniversary didn't you?"

"Fifteen years last month, you and Jethro have a big anniversary coming up soon." Pride reminded her, "have you got his gift all ready?"

"Yes sir, it's sitting all wrapped up in my office ready to go." Jenny replied with a smirk, "I've had it for over a year."

"Awe that's so cute!" Abby squealed, "what did you get him?"

Jenny was about to respond when Stan burst out laughing.

"You didn't!" He exclaimed, still laughing "did you?"

"Oh I did, the exact same pair, I found them online last year and had them special ordered." Jenny replied.

"What did you get him?" Abby exclaimed, impatient to get in on the joke.

"A pair of shoes." Mike stated, rolling his eyes, he had heard the story from Gibbs during his 'Margarita Safari' as Tony had called it.

"A pair of shoes?" Abby asked in confusion.

"On Friday it will be ten years since Jenny's first day at NCIS." Stan explained, "and as you all know on your first day as an agent you must witness an autopsy, well Jenny here has a bit of a weak stomach when it comes to bodies."

"It was one time." Jenny interrupted, "I was nervous and _somebody"_ she said glaring at Stan, "thought it would be helpful to suggest I imagine that the body was a family member or close friend."

"Anyway," Stan continued, "this one over here decided that she needed to throw up in the middle of the autopsy.

"And well she didn't have time to get a bucket and she threw up all over Jethro's shoes." Pride finished with a smirk, "he called me that night to bitch about his new probie, the minute I found out she was a redhead I gave them a year and a half before they were married, two years later they were."

"Technically we weren't married." Jenny argued, "not legally at least."

"Technicalities," Abby said waving her hand dismissively, "so why wait ten years before giving him new shoes?"

"Well when Jenny went to apologize for it and try to offer to buy him new shoes he bitched about rule six, it pissed her off so much that she told him she would buy him new shoes if she managed to go ten years without killing him." Stan explained, "their ten year anniversary is on Friday."

"It's not _our_ anniversary, it's the anniversary of when I started at NCIS." Jenny said, sighing in exasperation.

"It's the anniversary of the day everything began." Pride corrected her, "a hell of a lot has happened since that day."

"You say a lot of bad words." A small voice spoke up.

Jenny cringed and turned and rolled her eyes at Pride and then glared at Stan, "Say sorry to my kid, both of you."

"We're not supposed to say sorry, it's a rule." Jake stated before Stan or Pride could say anything.

Jenny bit back a sigh and rolled her eyes, she rested her hands on the back of Abby's chair and let her head fall forward, shaking it slowly. She rolled her eyes again when Pride and Stan both burst out laughing.

"I hate that rule." Jenny muttered, "do you know how many times I've heard that over the last three days?"

"Like father like son." Pride said, barely containing his laughter, "I gotta go," He announced when his desk phone started to ring, "call me if you need anything Jenny, I'll call you back later, Boo."

"Talk later, King. Say hey to Linda and Laurel for me!" Abby replied, waiting as everyone else said a quick goodbye before closing the video chat, "Gibbs never told me you guys had such an interesting first day."

"I don't think either of us really wanted to remember it." Jenny replied.

"Trust me, no one wanted to remember it." Stan added with an exaggerated shudder.

"Okay enough talking, you're distracting Jake from doing his homework." Jenny admonished, "anyone who doesn't have to be in the kitchen out."

"You're bossy." Stan muttered, rolling his eyes before he made his way to the living room followed by Franks.

Jenny looked over at Ava and couldn't help but laugh at how covered in food she was, she quickly grabbed a warm washcloth and brought it over to the baby.

"She's a messy eater." Jack stated fondly, "Leroy was the same way, Ann always had towels on hand with that boy around."

"Ann was your wife?" Jenny asked quietly, peeking over at Abby who was bent over Jake's homework explaining a problem to him.

"For twenty years." Jack replied with a small nod, "She passed away when Leroy was fourteen."

"I'm sorry." Jenny whispered, she'd had no idea that Gibbs had lost his mother that young, "my father passed away when I was twenty-five."

"I'm sorry to hear that, is your mother still alive?" Jack questioned, curious about the woman his son was obviously close to.

"She left when I was seven, I don't remember much about her." Jenny replied with a shrug, "my dad did just fine on his own."

"I can see that he did," Jack said with a small smile, "you're a good mother, and it sounds like a good match for my son."

"Oh no we're not together." Jenny quickly corrected, "we're just friends."

"He said you were married." Jack pointed out, nodding towards Abby's computer.

"We aren't, it was complicated but we're just friends now." Jenny replied, "we lived together for a year for work but that was it." She shot Abby a glare when the younger woman snorted from across the kitchen.

Jenny wiped the baby's face one last time before taking her out of the highchair, careful to avoid the baby food covering Ava's clothes.

"I'm going to go and change her really quick, thank you for feeding her."

"It was no problem, she's a sweet baby." Jack replied, reaching out to gently squeeze Ava's tiny foot.

N*C*I*S

Jenny rolled her eyes as she listened to Tony and Stan debate the merits and downfalls of different movies, they had been at it for over half an hour and she was ready to either scream or pull her own hair out. McGee, Abby and Jake had taken Jethro for a walk around the property to tire out both the dog and Jake before bed while Palmer and Ziva were upstairs giving Ava a bath, something Palmer had been surprisingly eager to learn how to do. Jack and Mike were playing a game of chess in the dining room even though Jenny could tell neither of them were that interested in the game, Kelly had retreated to her room after dinner, claiming that she needed to study. She folded the last item of laundry and placed the basket on the floor, she had no idea how they managed to accumulate so much dirty laundry, well she did but she couldn't believe that such small people could make such a big mess. Ava alone made enough for at least one load a day never mind Jake who was constantly getting dirty in one way or another.

She had just pulled her laptop onto her lap to read through her emails when Tony's cell phone rang, she listened carefully as a heavy feeling of dread settled in her stomach, Tony's voice was tense and his face was drawn.

"We need to go, something's going down at the hospital." Tony explained before Jenny could even ask, "the agent posted outside Gibbs' door is missing."

"He didn't just go to the bathroom or something?" Jenny asked, even though she knew that wasn't the case.

"No, he needs to alert the nurses and me if he's letting Gibbs out of his sight, something's wrong." Tony stated firmly, "Stan I want you and Mike to stay here in case the hospital is a distraction, Ziva, McGee and I will go see what's going on."

"I have my security outside." Jenny argued, "you should take Stan, you might need the extra person."

"I want someone I know I can trust here with you and the kids, Gibbs would kill me if I let anything happen to any of you." Tony replied, "don't make him go through waking up and realizing he's lost everything again, once was enough." He added, knowing that it would stop Jenny from arguing further, "I'll go and get McGee, can you grab Ziva for me?"

Jenny nodded and stood up, "just don't say anything in front of Jake, please." She added the please in almost a desperate voice, she was feeling panicked enough as it was, she couldn't handle it if Jake got hysterical because he was afraid.

"I'll be discreet." Tony promised, taking off outside.

"I'll get Ziva, you'd better tell those two what's going on." Stan whispered, nodding towards Jack and Mike who were looking at them, Jack was watching them curiously but suspicion was written all over Mike's face.

Jenny nodded her approval before making her way into the dining room, "Tony, Ziva and McGee need to head up to the hospital for a bit, there was a bit of a mixup with one of the agents there." She lied, hoping to keep Jack from panicking or asking too many questions

Jack nodded, seemingly content with her explanation but Mike's suspicious glare only deepened, Jenny shook her head minutely, the unspoken 'later' was obvious and Mike seemed to understand it, he turned back to the game but Jenny could tell he was even less interested than before.

Within five minutes most of Gibbs' team had disappeared, Abby offered to at least attempt to put Ava to bed, leaving Jenny to put Jake, who was slightly on edge despite Tony's discretion, to bed. Jenny watched as the boy brushed his teeth and attempted to run a comb through his hair before crawling into bed, her mind wasn't there though, it was in a hospital room across the city, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Jenny leaned against the door way, waiting for Jake to finish flopping around on his bed in attempt to get comfortable before she turned off the light. The small nightlight that she had bought casted off enough light that she could see him happily curl in a ball under the covers and stifle a yawn, she smiled softly at the sight, thankful for the distraction.

"Can I ask you a question?" Jake asked quietly, obviously trying to fight off the exhaustion that was slowly taking over.

"Of course." Jenny replied, equally as quiet.

She made her way carefully through the room and sat down on the edge of Jake's bed, running her hand over his hair while she waited for him to talk.

"You can ask me anything you want." She reassured him when he hesitated for a moment.

"Are you my mom now?" He asked, his voice barely a whisper.

"What do you mean?" Jenny asked carefully, she wasn't quite sure what he meant and she wanted to be sure before she answered.

"Well everyone keeps saying that you're my mom, or that I need to listen to my mom and they mean you, does that mean you're my mom now?" He questioned again, rolling over to face her.

Jenny tried not to smile at how wide and innocent his brown eyes looked as he stared up at her, if it weren't such a serious moment his look would have been almost comical. His question caught her off guard, looking down at him she knew in her heart that she would never willingly let him go, she would do anything in her power to protect the child in front of her. In her mind he was her child, she had only known him a few days but he, Kelly and Ava had changed her life in a way she had never believed possible. They had made her realize how deeply she could really love someone and how much she had been missing out on by never allowing anyone into her life.

"Do you want me to be your mom?" She asked after a moment, she knew that there was no way she could tell the seven year old what she was feeling, or explain their situation to him, he was smart but it was too complicated for him to understand and he would only end up more confused than he already was.

Jake seemed to mull it over for a moment before nodding, "you make me feel safe, Kelly said a mom is someone who makes you feel safe."

Jenny had to blink back tears at his quiet admission, she had no idea what kind of conversation Kelly and Jake had had or how they had come up with it but Jake's definition of what a mom was, was so simple and innocent that she couldn't help but agree with him.

"Does that mean I can call you Mom?" He asked after a minute of silence.

"If you want to, I'd like that very much." Jenny answered without thinking.

She knew it was something that she should probably wait to discuss with Gibbs but she couldn't ignore the hopeful look on Jake's face, she couldn't take that away from him.

"Okay." Jake replied through a yawn.

"It's time for you to get to sleep." Jenny stated quietly.

"One more question."

"Okay." Jenny replied indulgently, "one more and then sleep."

"If you're my mom does that make Gibbs my dad?"

Jenny could tell from his voice that he was already half asleep but she couldn't bring herself to say no to him, she knew that in the end Gibbs wouldn't object to Jake or Ava calling him Dad, that he would probably enjoy it so she didn't hesitate when she responded.

"Yeah, that makes him your dad." She whispered, running her hand over his hair once more, "now go to sleep."

"Okay… Goo-night, Mom." Jake muttered, his words slurred by sleep.

Jenny felt the lump in her throat grow and her heart pound in her chest, she hadn't expected a simple name to effect her so much but she couldn't stop the tear that escaped and rolled down her cheek, her tears were of joy and sadness. Her mind was no longer stuck on what was happening at the hospital, now it was flashing back to what felt like a lifetime ago when that same word had been uttered by a different person, in reference to a different child. She quickly snapped herself out of it, wiping the tear away before leaning down to place a gentle kiss on top of Jake's head.

"Goodnight, Son." She whispered, making sure the blankets were tucked in around him before slipping out of the room.

 **Well guys, here's another chapter, I'm still not entirely pleased with this one but I think it's about as good as it's going to get, please remember I own nothing it all belongs to DPB! I really love to hear from you guys and reviews are always appreciated! I hope everyone enjoyed Pride's little cameo, I was watching Cresent City and decided he needed to be added to the story, I love Pride's character and his relationship with Gibbs but I don't watch NCIS New Orleans so I worked with what I had, I hope it wasn't too inaccurate! I promise that Gibbs will wake up in the next chapter or two, but things are about to get very angsty so buckle up guys… I'll try to add a bit of comic relief where I can but I make no promises… As for the Gibbs and Sloan story I have it all brainstormed and I'm working on the first chapter so hopefully I'll have that up by next week, (it will be a based on the episode "The Numerical Limit") And finally, (sorry for the long note) all mistakes are mine, I did my best to edit but I tend to miss mistakes in my own writing so I apologize in advance but I hope you enjoy anyway!**

 **Thanks again!**

 **~Katie**


	17. Strength in Weakness

**Seventeen**

Jenny quietly shut the door to Jake's bedroom, she turned around to go and check on Abby and Ava and jumped when she found Abby leaning against the door to Ava's nursery.

"The baby's asleep." She whispered, "Tony called." She added, a small smile creeping across her face.

Jenny motioned for Abby to follow her and stepped into her own room, shutting the door behind them so they wouldn't be overheard.

"They caught him." Abby stated, her smile widening, "He's not talking but they think they've got the guy who did this to Gibbs."

"How?" Jenny asked in disbelief.

"The agent who was posted outside of Gibbs' door stepped over to the nurses station to talk to the night staff, tell them what was going on and everything and when he went back to Gibbs' room he went inside to check and make sure everything was okay. It looks like our suspect was standing behind the door and hit him before he injected him with something to knock him out, the nurses called us and hospital security right away when he didn't come back out. The security guards caught our suspect trying to inject something into Gibbs' IV, they got there in time and took him down, Gibbs' is fine, the Agent is going to be a bit sore but the doctors think he'll be fine, they're running tests now and Tony is bringing both syringes to my lab so I can test them." Abby explained, finally pausing long enough to take a breath, "but that's not the best part, I mean that's great and everything but Tony said that the doctors told him that Gibbs is showing signs of waking up soon." She finished, a massive grin spreading over her face.

Jenny felt her entire body relax as she listened to Abby talk, it was by no means over but it was finally beginning to look like it might end, like things might go back to whatever the new normal was.

"I need to get up there." Jenny said after taking a moment to process everything Abby had told her.

"Mike just left to go sit with him for the night, you need to be here with the kids in case one of them wakes up and needs you." Abby reminded her gently, "Jack and Stan are going to stay here with you, Tony wants to make sure that there's an agent he knows here so Stan's going to sleep on the couch, I need to head back to the Navy Yard but we're going to call you as soon as we know something." She promised.

"Jack was okay with Mike going to the hospital and not him?" Jenny asked skeptically.

"He was the one who suggested it, we all agreed that it would be better if Gibbs woke up to someone he'd had recent contact with, Jack thought it might be too stressful if Gibbs woke up and it was him there." Abby replied quietly, "I think it was probably the right call."

"Probably," Jenny agreed, she ran her hand over her face and sighed, "you should head back into the Yard, try and sleep for a bit between tests if you can."

"I will, and I'll call you as soon as I find anything." She replied, "you should talk to Kelly." She added after a moment of hesitation, "she's feeling a bit alone right now, I know you've got a lot going on right now and I tried to talk to her but I don't know how much I helped."

Jenny rubbed the back of her neck and nodded, she had been so busy making sure that Jake, Ava and the team were okay that she had dropped the ball with Kelly, she hadn't bothered to look past the teens positive attitude, she had just assumed that Kelly had been handling everything alright; she hated herself for making that assumption.

"It's not your fault." Abby quickly stated, "you have a lot on your plate, you can't do everything and no one expects you to."

"I'll go talk to her now." Jenny replied.

She couldn't handle Abby trying to assuage her of her guilt, not right then, not when she had broken the cardinal rule of Team Gibbs, the rule she had tried to live by most of her adult life. Never screw over your partner. It was a simple rule, but by letting the one thing he treasured most in the world suffer in silence Jenny had screwed over her partner in the worst way possible.

She offered Abby a small smile when the younger woman gave her arm a reassuring squeeze before she slipped out of the room, leaving Jenny alone. She took a moment to take a deep breath and gather her thoughts before she made her way out into the hallway. She hesitated outside of Kelly's door for a minute, finally she reached up and gave the back of her head a firm swat to snap herself out of it. She knocked gently on Kelly's door, when there was no answer she cracked the door open just enough that she could see that the light was still on, she could hear the shuffling of papers and assumed that Kelly was doing homework.

"Kelly, it's me." She whispered, "can I come in?"

She waited for a minute, listening as more papers shuffled before Kelly muttered a muffled 'sure'.

Jenny wasn't sure what she was expecting to find when she opened the door, but Kelly sitting on her window seat surrounded by sketches, crumpled pieces of paper and pencils wasn't exactly what she had been expecting. She had known Kelly liked to doodle but the life like drawings in front of her were far from doodles, Ava's toothless grin and crinkled nose, Gibbs' smug smirk and flashing blue eyes, the way Jake's eyes danced as he played with Jethro the dog, Jenny running her hand through her hair as she looked at a file in front of her. Some of the sketches were more detailed than others, some she could tell were hastily drawn, no doubt to be added to later, but all of them were unmistakably sketches of the people that surrounded Kelly, some were people Jenny didn't recognize but she was sure that they played important roles in the teens life.

"Kelly, these are amazing." Jenny whispered in awe.

"Thank you." Kelly replied quietly.

It took Jenny a minute to drag her eyes away from the sketches to look up at the teenager and what she saw nearly broke her heart, she saw right through the small smile plastered on the teens face, she saw through the hastily wiped eyes and cheeks, right past the cheerful way the teen held herself.

"I'm sorry." Jenny said suddenly, surprising both of them with the emotion she put into two simple words.

"For what?" Kelly asked, her confusion evident in her voice.

"I was so caught up in making sure your brother and sister were okay, and with everything else that I forgot to make sure that you were okay." Jenny admitted quietly.

"I'm fine." Kelly informed her quickly, the lie was obvious even to her though.

"You don't have to do that." Jenny replied softly, "you're allowed to not be okay."

"I can't afford to not be okay, Jake and Ava can't afford for me to not be okay." Kelly stated, her voice unusually low, the lump in her throat making it difficult for her to speak.

Jenny had felt so much over the last few days, overwhelming love for the kids who now shared her life, anger on their behalf, hatred for the people who had hurt them, heartbroken that they had been hurt but something about watching the sixteen year old girl in front of her fight for control broke her heart in a way she never imagined possible. It made her feel helpless in way she had never thought possible, the idea that Kelly was hurting, that there was nothing she could do to protect her or take away the pain made her want to scream in frustration.

"Listen to me and listen carefully Kelly Anne Gibbs." Jenny whispered as she moved to sit beside the teen, "you are allowed to not be okay, I am here to take care of Jake and Ava, and of you. You are allowed to cry, you can scream, break something if you need to, you have walked through hell and guess what, you survived, you survived and you thrived. I work in a building full of people who regularly put their lives on the line but you, a sixteen year old girl, are the bravest person I know. You have given up your entire life for two children who were desperately in need of help, two children who you have no obligation to, that's a lot to ask of an adult but you did it at _thirteen_ years old. You have made the best out of every bad situation life has thrown at you, you haven't let it make you bitter, instead you turned a life that would break most people into something beautiful." She stated, gesturing to the sketches on the floor and the framed photos scattered around the room. "You have made yourself a family, you do well in school and you have made sure that Jake and Ava have had every opportunity made available to them. Crying, being upset, getting mad, grieving, it doesn't make you weak, it doesn't make you a bad person it makes you human, everyone has bad moments and as long as you don't let them take over your life it's okay." She paused for a moment before continuing, "someone very wise once told me that our greatest show of strength is allowing ourselves to be weak." She added quietly

Jenny reached out and rested a hand on Kelly's knee, she didn't comment on the tears now streaming down he teens face, she simply gave her knee a comforting squeeze before standing up, she silently grabbed a box of tissues off of the bedside table and passed them to the teen who gratefully took one. She didn't sit back down instead she carefully gathered all of the sketches and papers together and placed them on the desk before gently helping the teen up and leading her over to the bed, she pulled back the covers and motioned for Kelly to get in between the covers. Jenny waited until Kelly had laid down before pulling the blankets up around her, she made her way across the room and flicked off the light, she was about to slip out of the room when Kelly's voice stopped her.

"Can you stay, just for a bit?" She whispered, "I mean if you're not too tired or-."

"Just give me one second and then I'll stay as long as you need, okay?"

Jenny waited until she saw Kelly's nod her head, she slipped out of the room and quickly peeked in on Jake and Ava making sure they were both alright, she then made her way to her own room and pulled on a pair of comfortable pyjama bottoms and a loose cotton shirt, she checked each of the doors to make sure they were locked securely before making her way back upstairs. She said a quick good-night to Jack, who was seated in the kitchen doing a crossword, and promised to wake him up as soon as she heard anything about his son. Back upstairs she made her way into Kelly's room, she quietly placed the baby monitor from her room and her cell phone on the bedside table before laying down next to the teen.

She had only planned to stay until Kelly had fallen asleep, she hadn't planned to fall asleep herself, but it was only the ringing of her cell phone that woke her up at 0530.

N*C*I*S

Jenny rested her head against the one way glass of the observation room, Tony had been attempting to get their suspect to talk for the last six hours, Jenny had only been there for half an hour but she was already done with the mans silence.

It had been a hectic morning from the moment her cell phone had rung at 0530, a call from Mike announcing that Gibbs had woken up three hours prior, it had made her morning to see Kelly's face light up at the good news, the teen had wanted to visit immediately but Mike had passed on word that Gibbs would be busy doing different tests all morning. Jenny had promised the teen that she would pick her up in the afternoon to take her to see her father, even though Jenny had told her she could stay home the teen had insisted that both she and Jake would be going to school, unwilling to miss even a single day. The call from Mike had quickly been followed by a call from Tony informing her that their interrogation was getting them nowhere fast, Jenny had gotten the kids ready for school, with the help of Jack, and then had made her way into work, where she had spent the first two hours talking to Abby and trying to identify their suspect until she had ended up in the observation room half an hour prior. She peeked at her watch, almost 1000, she shook her head in frustration as she listened to Tony try and fail to get their suspect to talk, finally she knocked on the glass giving Tony the signal to step out.

"I don't think he's going to talk." Tony stated as he walked into observation, his own frustration quite obvious.

"Let me take a run at him." Jenny suggested after a moment, "a female personality might make a difference."

"I was going to send Ziva in, no offence but she has more recent interrogation experience." Tony stated.

"Officer David's methods, although effective, aren't necessarily, shall we say legal." Jenny reminded him with a small smirk, "let me try and if it doesn't work I'll let her have a go at it." She bargained.

Tony shrugged and nodded, "don't see how it can do any harm, you want to give it a go right now?"

"Give me ten minutes, go take a break, talk to your team and then I'll give it a try." Jenny suggested, "it'll give him a chance to stew a bit."

Tony gave her a slight nod and let himself out of observation, leaving Jenny alone, he walked into the bullpen and instantly stopped in his tracks, not quite believing his eyes.

N*C*I*S

Leon Vance leaned on the railing overlooking the bullpen, watching in disbelief as none other than Leroy Jethro Gibbs walked off the elevator wearing his usual dress pants and sports jacket, the only difference in the man was the blue button up shirt, the bandage over his eyebrow and the fact that his arm was in a sling. He watched as his team and Ms. Sciuto greeted him enthusiastically, equally surprised by his presence it seemed, he waited for a few minutes before making his way down to the bullpen.

"It's good to see you up and around Special Agent Gibbs." Vance stated as he approached the other man.

"Leon." Gibbs replied in surprise, shaking the other mans hand while eyeing him suspiciously, "what're you doing here?"

Gibbs watched as every single member of his team looked anywhere but at him, each of them wearing a guilty expression on their face.

"Where's Je- Director Shepard?" He asked, correcting himself just in time.

"She's down in interrogation." Tony admitted quietly.

"What do you mean she's in interrogation?" Gibbs asked, noting the way that everyone looked at Tony in surprise.

"We caught the guy who we think is responsible for this, he's been in interrogation for the last six hours, I couldn't get him to talk so she offered to take a run at it." Tony explained.

"What do you mean she offered to take a run at it?" Vance asked harshly, "She was here strictly as a consultant, she was not to have any direct influence on the case and you knew that."

"All due respect," Stan spoke up, "Jenny Shepard is excellent at what she does and one of the things she does best is interrogation, if we have any chance of getting this guy to talk she's our best shot. We haven't been able to get a fingerprint or DNA match in any of our databases we don't know his name and facial recognition is getting us nowhere fast, we've got nothing. What have we got to lose?"

"Someone had better explain to me what the hell is going on." Gibbs demanded, glaring at all of his agents, both past and current.

"She's starting two minutes, not a lot of time." Tony replied, glancing at his watch.

"You can talk while we walk." Gibbs ordered, motioning for him and whoever else to follow.

N*C*I*S

Gibbs stood behind the glass in the observation room and watched as the door to interrogation opened, Jenny shut the door and wandered across the room before leaning against the wall behind their suspect.

"Are you a gardner Ms. Shepard?"

Gibbs looked over at Tony in surprise, noting immediately that Tony's expression was one of complete disbelief, Stan, McGee, Abby and Ziva all had the same looks on their faces, Vance's face was the only one that remained blank.

"She's good but I didn't know she was that good." Stan stated, looking at Jenny in awe.

"She's not." Gibbs muttered, "he's been waiting for her."

 **Well guys, here's another chapter, I'm sorry for the cliff hanger but I promise it gets good in the next chapter! Please remember I own nothing it all belongs to DPB! I really love to hear from you guys and reviews are always appreciated! Gibbs is awake Ya'll! Get ready and buckle up for some serious angst in the next chapter! (Like seriously I needed tissues for it) All mistakes are mine, I did my best to edit but I tend to miss mistakes in my own writing so I apologize in advance but I hope you enjoy anyway!**

 **Thanks again!**

 **~Katie**


	18. Secrets Exposed

**Eighteen**

Gibbs watched as Jenny crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the wall, he noted the way she raised an eyebrow and gently tapped the folder in her hand against her side, a sure sign that she was debating how to proceed.

"I don't garden," Jenny replied, "I don't have much of a green thumb." She added with a shrug.

Gibbs couldn't help but smirk at the understatement, Jenny could kill a plant just by looking at it, she excelled with animals and children but not plants.

"I find that hard to believe, your daughter is quite the guru with plants, she grows them in her windowsill."

Gibbs tensed for a moment before he remembered that Kelly was terrible with plants, almost worse than Jenny, Kelly had spent an entire half hour telling him all about how she had accidentally killed the class venus fly trap in eighth grade.

"Young Daniella is quite handy with a pot of dirt and some seeds." The man stated.

The mention of a name that was neither Kelly's or Ava's helped Gibbs to further relax until he saw Jenny tense, her head shooting up and an alarmed look in her eyes.

"There is one particular plant that she grows that reminds me of you, the daylily, they're quite resilient aren't they? As are you, after your father passed you went into quite the downward spiral. Alcohol, drugs, it's really quite amazing you never found yourself in trouble with the law, although I would assume that an unplanned pregnancy would put a quick end to the lifestyle you had thrown yourself into."

"What the hell is he talking about?" Stan asked, looking at Gibbs who barely managed to shrug, too shocked to even speak.

Gibbs managed to pull himself together enough to turn to the tech who was seated at the small desk monitoring the cameras and audio, "you can go, Agent McGee will take over." He ordered, motioning for McGee to take a seat at the small desk before turning to Tony, "call Ducky and get him down here."

He wanted someone who could read body language in a way they couldn't, someone who had an intimate knowledge of how the human brain worked to be witness to this conversation. He needed to know how much of what their suspect was saying was true and he was willing to bet he wouldn't get a straight answer to any of his questions from Jenny.

"Giving up your daughter must have been quite difficult, I would say one of the hardest things you have ever done but things didn't get much better after that, did they?"

Gibbs couldn't tell whether or not the man was waiting for an answer or not, his mind was reeling with the information he had just been given and he silently prayed to whomever was listening that there would be no more surprises.

"You found a job at NCIS, managed to pull yourself together and even I will admit you excelled, although sleeping with your boss probably helped that matter."

Gibbs winced as Vance's head shot around to look at him, his team, Burley and Abby, who had both tagged along to watch the interrogation, were all trying to look anywhere but at him. Gibbs watched as Jenny tightened her arms around her chest but didn't say anything.

"I would say that it was a means to an end but you fell in love with him, didn't you?"

Again Gibbs couldn't tell if he was waiting for an answer but the question was enough to redirect everyones attention back to what was happening in the other room, he nodded to both Tony and Ducky as they slipped into the room.

"It's rather unfortunate how it ended though isn't it? I do commend you on your decision, you did what was best for you and your child, did he even know you were pregnant when you left?"

That was enough to make every single person in the observation room turn to stare at him. Abby, Tony and McGee all wore expressions of shock, Burley looked furious, Vance confused beyond belief and Ducky wore an expression of both guilt and pity.

"You son of a bitch." Stan stated darkly, "the one thing you always drilled into our heads was there were consequences for our actions, and that no matter what we had to face our choices in life, but you, you don't have to answer to anyone I guess."

Gibbs looked up when he heard the sound of Jenny's voice, barely above a whisper.

"He didn't know." She stated quietly.

Gibbs felt as if his stomach was in his throat, the fact that she had answered confirmed what the man was saying, the lack of a twitch in her right eye meant she wasn't lying.

"The ending of that story is particularly tragic, I can honestly say I am sorry for your loss, no one should ever have to lose a child." The man stated, watching Jenny's reflection flinch in the reflective glass, "they say there is nowhere to go but up in those situations, you only went further down after that."

"Why isn't she stopping him?" Tony asked quietly.

"She is waiting for him to slip up." Ziva replied, "she is hoping that he will talk himself into a dormer as you say."

"Corner." Tony corrected quietly, immediately quieting down when the man began to speak again.

"You were one of the first agents on the ground in Afghanistan after September eleventh, you excelled there, your time with Mossad was particularly impressive, until Cairo. That was unfortunate although it is yet another reason why you remind me of a daylily, there was every reason to believe that you were dead, even after they pulled you out there was only a small chance you were going to survive. It is no small miracle that you survived with only minor permanent damage."

"What happened in Cairo?" Stan asked quietly.

"It is classified." Ziva muttered, "but it was not good."

Ducky watched Jenny carefully, he could see the way her eyes were glazing over, the way her fingers were repeatedly and roughly pinching at the skin in her arms.

"You need to pull her out of there." He ordered firmly.

She was becoming more and more agitated by the minute, and she was slowly extracting herself from the situation, he had only seen her like that twice and neither time had been pleasant.

"Just two more minutes, Ducky, we need to know what else he knows." Tony argued.

Ducky's glanced over at Gibbs who was roughly running his hand over his face, he could tell that Gibbs was struggling to process everything he had just heard, the effects of his recent coma no doubt making things worse. His eyes turned back to Jenny who was paler than he had seen her in years, the bright lights in the interrogation room casting a eery glow over her skin.

"You need to pull her out now, Anthony." Ducky ordered again, his voice much firmer this time.

"She's fading." Stan warned.

He had seen Jenny like that once, directly after she had made her first kill, it had been to protect an innocent bystander in a hostage situation and Jenny had done everything right but as soon as everything had been under control Jenny had paled considerably, began to shake and had lost the contents of her stomach. It had been weeks before she had returned to her normal self.

"Ducky, she looks like she's going to pass out." Abby added, Jenny's eyes were now tightly closed and her lips were pursed in a thin line.

Before anyone could react McGee was out of his chair and out of the room, a second later there was a knock on the door to interrogation before McGee poked his head in.

"Ma'am, you're needed up in MTAC." The younger agent stated calmly, "It's important." He added when Jenny didn't move.

His last sentence seemed to snap Jenny out of it, she nodded curtly and exited the room, as soon as the door was closed though she made a beeline for the nearest garbage can. Gibbs stepped out of the observation room just as Jenny leaned over the garbage can, he was just about to step towards her when Ducky rested a hand on his shoulder and gave a small shake of his head.

"She needs someone who's not a threat right now." He muttered, "and she needs everyone else to step back into the other room." He added, waiting until Tony, Burley and Abby had stepped back into the other room.

McGee stood behind Jenny, awkwardly rubbing her back, trying to comfort her in the only way he knew how. Vance stood by the door next to Ducky and glared at Gibbs.

"I need to see both you in my office." Vance stated.

"It's not _your_ office." Gibbs replied gruffly.

Tony had simply told him that Jenny was taking a personal leave, but Gibbs suspected that he had changed the story or simply held back some details because of the group of people that had been surrounding them and he wasn't happy with the fact that someone else was sitting in Jenny's chair. As much as he liked to bug her about it, Jenny had earned her spot in the directors chair and even though he didn't have the details he was would bet his career that she hadn't stepped down willingly.

"All due respect," Ducky interrupted firmly, "Director Shepard and Agent Gibbs both need to rest today."

"Fine." Vance replied reluctantly, "I want to see you both first thing tomorrow morning."

Gibbs nodded, his attention was back on Jenny who was leaning against the wall, she looked slightly less pale but with her guard down he could how exhausted she looked, he could see the dark circles underneath her eyes and the small tremors in her hands from where he stood ten feet away.

"How has she been handling everything?" He asked suddenly, turning to Ducky.

Jenny had been nervous enough about taking care of the kids with his help and then she had been thrown into it alone.

"She has managed quite well, the children are all doing well, young Jacob is thriving and Kelly is enjoying her new school from what I understand, Ava is showing signs of teething though, Jennifer has asked me to come over this evening just to confirm that that is what is ailing the poor dear." He replied, "I am not overly concerned about it though, from what Jennifer has told me it sounds like teething." Ducky added when he saw the concern in Gibbs' eyes.

"She looks tired." Gibbs commented, nodding in Jenny's direction.

"She has had a lot on her plate the last few days, between dealing with Vance and SecNav, trying to be everywhere at once, and being a single parent with her partner in the hospital I would imagine she hasn't been sleeping much."

Gibbs nodded, he was about to ask what had really happened with Jenny being put on leave when Jenny made her way back over to them, McGee had disappeared at some point and was nowhere to be found.

"Did you kill the doctor to get out of the hospital?" She asked weakly when she noticed Gibbs.

She couldn't say she was completely surprised to see him, she had been expecting him to break out of the hospital as soon as possible but she was expecting it to take at least be a few more hours.

"Nope, tests came back clear, as long as I check in with my doctor and Ducky keeps and eye on me I'll be fine." Gibbs replied, there had been other terms to his release but he wasn't going to go into them.

"How much did you hear?" Jenny asked quietly.

"We'll talk about it later." Gibbs responded with a small shrug, "we need to get home."

"I have to work." Jenny argued, it sounded weak even to her own ears but she needed to put up at least a small fight.

"No, you need to go home and rest." Ducky stated firmly, "you are not going to go home and argue or even discuss this, you both have been through a great ordeal, you both need rest, I sent Franks, who I found smoking in a storage closet by the way, to take both Ava and Jack out for the afternoon so you can both relax, they will be gone before you get home."

"Thanks, Duck." Gibbs replied before Jenny could try to argue, "are you gonna be okay to drive?" He asked turning to Jenny.

"I used my driver this morning," Jenny replied, "I'll call him and tell him to pick us up."

"I will be by this evening to check on Ava." Ducky added, "I expect that both of you will follow my orders and rest this afternoon."

Gibbs and Jenny both nodded, Gibbs waited a minute before subtly nodding his head in Jenny's direction and then towards the elevator.

"Why don't we go and grab your bag and jacket Jennifer." Ducky suggested after he had picked up on Gibbs' small hint.

"I can go by myself." Jenny replied, not wanting to be coddled or hovered over in anyway, "I'll meet you upstairs." She added looking over at Gibbs who simply nodded.

As soon as she was gone Gibbs opened the door to observation, he wasn't surprised to find his team leaning against the wall closest to the door looking completely unsure of themselves. It was Abby who moved first, Gibbs didn't even have time to brace himself before her arms were wrapped around him, he tried not to cringe as her hug jostled his injured shoulder but wrapped his free arm around her none the less.

"I am so sorry Gibbs." She whispered, "what can we do?"

"Need to breathe Abs." Gibbs replied softly, waiting until she had backed away before he continued, "the best thing you can do right now is to find out who this bastard is, Ducky's going to stop by tonight send anything you find over with him."

"You're leaving, Boss?" Tony asked.

"Duck's sending both of us home, you're in charge for now DiNozzo, the rest of you go get started, get a copy of the interrogation tape and have Ducky bring it to me." He ordered, waiting until they filtered out of the room before turning to Tony who had stayed behind. "DiNozzo, find out whatever you can about Daniella Shepard, don't contact her yet but make sure she's safe." He added, he slipped a business card out of his wallet and handed it to his Senior Field Agent. "This is D'Arcy's card she's our social worker and she's consulted on cases before, call her if you hit a wall." He instructed.

"You've got it boss." Tony replied with a nod, "is there anything we can do?" He asked after a few moments of hesitation.

Gibbs sighed and ran his hand over his face, "right now just keep everyone away, at least until Jen feels like having people around."

"That might be tough, you have a full house right now." Tony replied with a cringe.

"Yeah, Mike told me."

Mike had told him all about his father staying at the house and although he wasn't exactly eager to see his father again he was glad that Jenny had had extra help over the last few days.

"I just don't want total chaos right now." Gibbs added after a minute, "she needs to rest and a bit of relative quiet would help."

"I understand." Tony replied after a minute, "if you need someone to take the kids for a bit give one of us a call." He offered.

"Thanks, DiNozzo." Gibbs replied, turning to leave before the sound of Tony's voice stopped him.

"And Boss, you know I'm not Jenny's biggest fan but go easy on her, she's had a rough go of it the last few weeks but she's done a damn good job on her own, she's a good mom and the kids seem to really like her. I know she's made some bad choices and kept a lot of secrets but I'm sure she had a good reason for it, just remember how she handled finding out about Shannon and Kelly, okay?"

Gibbs looked at his SFA and realized he had never felt so proud of the man standing in front of him, here was the man who had shown nothing but hatred for Jenny Shepard over the last six months defending her, he could see how much Tony had grown over the last few months, the last few weeks even, and he was proud of how far the man had come.

"I know I haven't always been happy with the way she does things but man the woman has got some serious balls stepping up like she has, I don't know anyone else who would be willing to just give up everything she has ever worked for like she did." He added, "She's sacrificed her career, her personal life, even her home for this, just remember that."

"What do you mean her career?" Gibbs asked, he knew how much Jenny had sacrificed for him and the kids but her career was supposed to be safe.

"That's why she's not working, SecNav found out about the kids." Tony explained quietly, "She refused to tell him that you were just fostering them together, at least that's what Ducky said, he said she wouldn't throw you or them under the bus to save her own ass. She's not on leave, she's under investigation."

 **A bit of angst for all of you, this has been a chapter I've been imagining for weeks now, it didn't turn out quite the way I wanted it too but I wanted to give you guys a bit of a gift before our hearts get broken tomorrow night… I always look forward to NCIS episodes but I'm dreading tomorrow nights episode… I hope everyone enjoyed and please remember I don't own anything, you're reviews are much appreciated and I love to hear from you guys!**

 **~Katie**


	19. Broken Together

**Nineteen**

 ** _Massive Trigger Warning: Mentions of miscarriage and Depression! If you are affected by either of these and don't want to read this chapter PM me and I will give you a summery of what happens in this chapter, there are some important facts but I can give them to you without any triggers if you would like to avoid it!_**

Jenny tried to bite back tears of both frustration and exhaustion as she struggled to open the front door, she was overwhelmed, stressed and her hands wouldn't stop shaking long enough for her to get the front door open. She jumped slightly when she felt Gibbs' large hand cover her smaller one, she released the key when he gently tried to remove it from her hand and moved out of the way to let him unlock the door.

As soon as the door was open Gibbs stepped out of the way and let Jenny pass, he stepped into the foyer and shut the door behind them, locking it as he did so. He watched Jenny stare at the wall in front of her, her shoulders were tense and her hands were still shaking, he could see the tears in her eyes that she was refusing to let fall.

"Jen," He said softly.

She wasn't sure if he was trying to ask her something or if he was just trying to break the silence but the sound of his voice broke something inside of her, a sob broke out of her and she quickly covered her mouth with her hands but it was too late, her legs seemed to fall out from under her as she slumped to the floor, her back against the wall.

Gibbs watched helplessly as she pulled her legs up to her chest and tucked her head between her knees, he had seen her cry a few times in the ten years he had known her but it had always been a few tears in anger or frustration, never the heart wrenching sobs that were wracking her body now.

"Awe hell, Jen." He muttered, crouching down in front of her.

Jenny didn't even glance up when she felt a hand settle gently on her knee, she was too far gone to care at that point, her nails were digging painfully into her calves as she tried to regain some semblance of control, the pain was the only thing keeping her grounded at that point.

"I'm so tired." She whispered between sobs.

"I know." Gibbs replied.

He could see that she was exhausted, he had no doubt that the last few weeks had completely exhausted her, not to mention the events of the morning that had drained her both physically and emotionally. He had never seen her looking so fragile and frankly it was terrifying to see the normally strong and confident woman sobbing on the floor in their foyer. He knew she hadn't just meant tired physically, she was tired mentally and emotionally, he knew that feeling. He had felt the same thing after he had lost Shannon and Kelly, the feeling of exhaustion and hopelessness that came with losing someone you loved more than anything in the world. He knew the feeling and the fact that she was feeling it terrified him because there was no doubt in his mind that she was near her breaking point, he had reached his breaking point right before joining NCIS but had been able to pull himself away from the edge, he wasn't sure if Jenny would be able to do the same thing.

"I just want it to stop."

It was barely above a whisper but those six words made Gibbs' heart stop beating in his chest for a split second.

"I want it to stop hurting." She muttered, her voice cracked and broken from sobbing.

He desperately wanted to wrap his arms around her and tell her that everything was going to be okay, that it would get better but he couldn't do that, he couldn't in good conscience tell her that it would get better. He shifted so he was sitting next to her against the wall and pulled her against his uninjured side.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

He knew it was against his rules to apologize but she deserved an apology more than anyone else, he had broken his cardinal rule, he had screwed over his partner in the worst way possible, he had left her alone when she had needed him most.

The apology only made her sob harder as she buried her face in his chest. She didn't deserve an apology, not after everything she had done, not after the secrets she had kept from him.

"I should've been there for you, if I'd've known I would've been there." He whispered.

Jenny knew he was talking about the baby, the thought of the child she had lost, the child she thought of every single day brought more sobs forward. She fisted a hand in Gibbs' shirt and held on for dear life, praying to whoever was listening that it would just end.

Gibbs squeezed Jenny's shoulder and held her tightly as her entire body shook, his throat was tight as he listened to her sobs and he tried to remain in control of his own emotions as everything that had happened over the last three weeks and the things he had heard that morning hit him full force. He leaned his head back and blinked rapidly.

"I should've been there." He muttered again, closing his eyes as he fought against his own tears.

"I didn't give you a choice." Jenny whispered after a few minutes.

Her sobs at slowly subsided, the tears were still falling but she had managed to regain some control.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked, his voice wasn't angry or accusatory, simply tired.

"I didn't want you there." Jenny admitted quietly, "you weren't in a place where you could have been a father, you were still so angry, so raw from losing Shannon and Kelly. I didn't know that was why at the time, I just knew you had demons to face and I wasn't going to put a baby in the middle of it."

Gibbs didn't know what hurt more, the fact that she was right or the fact that she hadn't trusted him enough to change, she hadn't trusted him enough to give him a chance.

"Don't say you could have changed." She whispered as if reading his mind. "You would have been the best father to our daughter but in the end she always would have been a replacement for Kelly in your eyes, you needed to deal with your grief before you could have another child."

"It was a girl?" Gibbs asked, his voice breaking at the end of his sentence.

"Yes," Jenny replied, her own voice cracking.

"What happened?" He asked quietly, he couldn't stop the single tear that slid down his cheek as he thought about the daughter he would never get to know, never see grow up, graduate, go to prom, get married or have children of her own.

"I went into labour at twenty-two weeks, she was too small, there was nothing they could do for her." Jenny replied, "she fought like hell but she was just too small." She repeated, another sob breaking free.

Gibbs pulled her tighter against him and didn't even try to stop the tears that were now rolling down his own cheeks, his heart was breaking for the woman in his arms who had gone through a tragedy no parent should ever have to go through, not to mention she had gone through it completely alone.

"You shouldn't've been alone." He whispered.

"I wasn't," She replied softly, "after I left Europe I went back to LA with Decker, he was with me when I had her and Ducky was visiting at the time, I wasn't alone, they were both there."

"They both knew?" He asked.

It stung to know that his best friend had known about this and had never told him but he could also understand it.

"I begged them not to tell you." Jenny explained quietly, "be mad at me, not them."

"I'm not mad."

And it was true, for all of the emotions swirling through him at that moment, anger wasn't one of them. He felt guilty, disappointed in himself and overwhelming sadness but not anger.

"I'm so tired of this." She stated, her voice barely above a whisper. "I just want it all to stop."

Gibbs tried not to panic at her words, he took a deep breath and swallowed repeatedly before asking the question he wasn't sure he was ready to hear the answer to.

"Want what to stop?"

"The pain, the constant feeling that I disappointed you, I'm tired of feeling tired all the time, I just want it to stop, I want to feel alive again, I want to remember what that feels like but I can't, Jethro." She whispered, "It's like when she died something in me died, there's this piece missing and I can't get it back, no matter what I do I can't get it back because she's never coming back, Jethro."

Gibbs turned his head and rested his chin on top of her head, he understood exactly what she was saying, he had felt it when he had lost Shannon and Kelly, it had taken him a long time before he had actually _wanted_ to feel alive again and Jenny had been the reason for that.

"You didn't disappoint me." He whispered against her hair, "this was not your fault."

He knew Jenny well enough to know that she blamed herself for losing their daughter, that she thought she could have done something to save her when in the end they both knew deep down that there was nothing anyone could have done.

"You are not God, you couldn't've done anything, you did everything right." He stated firmly.

"How do you know?" Jenny asked quietly.

"Because I see the way you love our kids, I see the way you look at Ava and the way you take care of Jake and Kelly, you would do everything in your power to keep them safe, you would die for them in an instant and I don't doubt that you would do the same for our baby." Gibbs replied, and he meant every word.

There wasn't a doubt in his mind that she had done everything she could have to protect their child, to keep her safe.

"You did everything you could, you did your best." He whispered.

"Why wasn't it enough then?" Jenny asked.

Her sobs had ceased but her voice sounded beyond broken, as if something inside of her had finally snapped, her voice sounded not only broken but hopeless.

"Sometimes even our best just isn't good enough." He replied.

He knew it wasn't helpful or comforting in any way but it was the truth, sometimes even your best just wasn't enough, he had learned that the hard way. There was nothing he could have done to save Shannon or protect Kelly, there was nothing he could have done to protect Kate on the rooftop and Paula would have died even if he had been one step quicker.

"Does it ever get better?" She asked softly, after a few minutes of silence.

"It doesn't get better." He answered honestly, "but it gets easier, you just have to let yourself grieve, Jen."

He knew her well enough to know that she had probably never allowed herself to properly grieve their child, she had never allowed herself moments of weakness and in her mind grief was a weakness she simply couldn't afford.

"I don't know how to." She admitted after awhile.

"I know." Gibbs replied with a sigh.

Neither of them knew how to deal with grief, when they had lost the most important people in their lives they had taken their anguish out on the source of their pain, Pedro Hernandez in his case and Rene Benoit in hers. This time there was no-one to take their grief out on, there was no one to blame and no justice to be had, this time they needed to just let themselves feel the pain and work through it together.

"We'll get through it." He whispered, "together, we'll get through it." He added, planting a gentle kiss on the top of her head.

 **Okay so two chapters in one night… I was on a roll guys, what can I say? There is still a lot of drama coming up but I'm going to try and put a more fluffy chapter next… First off, we just hit 50k+ words guys! Thank you so much for being with me throughout this entire journey it has been amazing to explore these characters with you and I'm only getting started, I couldn't do this without all of your amazing support!... Secondly this chapter was incredibly difficult to write and I wrote most of it with tears in my eyes, I have written and re-written this scene probably fifty times now but this was the most raw and real version of it I have ever written… I hope that everyone listened to the trigger warning but I apologize if I offended anyone or brought up any bad memories… The amount of reviews on the last chapter in such a short amount of time was amazing and I greatly appreciate them you guys, I absolutely love to hear from you and would love to respond to each one individually unfortunately with work and trying to find time to write I just don't have the time right now (I'm working on that though) if you would like to have a review replied to or would like to discuss anything please PM me! I love to talk to and hear from you guys!**

 **~Katie**

 **P.S obviously nothing has changed in the two hours since my last update, I still own diddly squat, except for Jake, Ava and now Dani! (Who some of you might recognize from the original version of this story)**


	20. Pushing Through

**Twenty**

Gibbs glanced up from the open book in his lap when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs, he glanced down at his watch and shook his head. He wasn't at all surprised that her attempt at taking a nap had lasted all of twenty minutes, Ducky's advice to rest wouldn't be heeded after all and they both knew it. Neither of them had been good at staying still for long and the idea of taking a nap in the middle of the afternoon, no matter how exhausted they were, was ridiculous.

"Couldn't sleep." Jenny muttered as she entered the living room.

Gibbs nodded silently and watched as she sat in the arm chair across from him, her legs tucked under her body and her arms crossed tightly against her chest. She had changed into a pair of yoga pants and a loose black t-shirt and although she looked slightly more comfortable physically Gibbs could tell she was unsure what to do with herself.

"We gonna talk about it?" He asked quietly.

Jenny couldn't help the small snort that burst forth, " _you,_ Leroy Jethro Gibbs want to _talk_?" She asked.

Gibbs shot her a mild glare, "we can't just dance around it for the rest of our lives, not if we're gonna make this work."

He knew that if they left things the way they were their entire living situation and what was left of their friendship would crash and burn within weeks, months maybe, if they were really lucky.

"I'm too tired to fight with you right now." Jenny replied.

She was exhausted, physically, mentally and emotionally and she wasn't sure how much more she could take in one day.

"We're not going to fight." He responded firmly, "we're going to talk and figure out a way to make this work, for our sakes and for the sake of the kids we need to find a way to live together without being at each others throats."

"Do you really think we can make this work?" Jenny asked sadly, "do you honestly think after all of these years, after all of the secrets and the lies that we can make this, whatever this is, work?"

"I think we have to try." He replied, shrugging his good shoulder, "I don't really think we have a choice at this point, we brought three other people into this we don't just get to walk away anymore."

He realized how poorly chosen his words were as soon as he saw the hurt look on Jenny's face and quickly moved to correct himself.

"Not what I meant." He corrected quickly, "bad choice of words."

"If I could have stayed I would have." She whispered, "I did what I had to do for our daughter."

"I know." He replied with a small sigh, "don't blame you, not anymore." He added.

Two days ago, hell four hours ago he had blamed her for leaving, had resented her decision and had always assumed that it had more to do with her climb up the political ladder than any feelings she may or may not have had towards him. A lot had changed in four hours, he had a whole new perspective on and respect for the woman sitting in front of him.

"I'm not going to just walk away from those kids, I love Jake and Ava like my own and I won't just leave them because things get hard." She stated firmly.

"And Kelly?" Gibbs asked, eyeing her carefully.

"I love Kelly like my own too, I would die for that girl." She admitted quietly, "but that's not my place."

"What do you mean it's not your place?"

"Kelly has a mom, it's not my place to step into that role for her, I won't dishonour Shannon's memory by trying to replace her." Jenny replied honestly, "I won't try and be a replacement for an irreplaceable woman."

Gibbs swallowed and looked at Jenny, he had no idea how to respond to that. It occurred to him in that moment that he had been just assuming that Jenny knew what her role in Kelly's life was, that she was comfortable enough to know where she stood but the lost look on her face screamed otherwise. It also occurred to him that he had been thinking of Jenny as equal to Shannon when it came to who Kelly's mother was. No one could replace Shannon, he knew that after twelve years of trying to find a replacement, but he was also starting to realize that it was time for him to move on.

"Shannon's not here anymore." He stated, "I'm not saying her memory shouldn't play a role in Kelly's life, she's a part of who Kelly is but she's just a part. At the end of the day Shannon's not gonna be here for her graduation, for prom or her first date or when she gets married and has kids, it's going to be you and I there for all of those things."

"It's not fair that she's not going to be here." Jenny replied quietly, "Kelly should have her mother beside her for all of those things."

"And she will." Gibbs replied with a shrug, "she'll always carry a part of Shannon with her, and you'll be front row centre when she graduates, you'll be taking pictures and crying when she goes to prom, you'll help her get ready for her dates and you'll be right there with her when she has her kids. It takes more than just giving birth to be a mom, Jen, it's being there for the big things and the little things, it's crawling into bed with your kids, even if they're sixteen years old because they're upset," He said, giving her a pointed look. "It's cleaning scraped knees and listening to them talk about things you have no interest in. Shannon may have given birth to her and I will always love her for that, but you're going to be doing the rest of the hard stuff, 'sides there's nothing saying she can't have two moms."

He loved Shannon and would always love her because she had given him his daughter but he wouldn't deny Kelly the opportunity to have a mother simply because the world had decided to take hers away from her.

"I don't want you to resent me for being in her life, I don't want you to look at me later and hate me because I'm not the woman you want there, I don't want you to hate me because I'm not Shannon." She admitted, "I will never be her and I refuse to even try, I don't want you to be disappointed because I can't be the perfect mother, I'm barely holding everything together right now and I can't add the stress of pretending to be someone I'm not too that."

"I don't want you to be Shannon." Gibbs replied with a small shrug, "She's gone, Jen. She's _never_ coming back and I know that." He choked on the word never but cleared his throat and continued, "I've accepted that, and Kelly shouldn't have to live her life without a mother just because Shannon's gone, not when you're right here."

He realized as he said the words that he meant them, he had accepted both Shannon's and Kelly's deaths after his accident the year before, it hadn't made it hurt less but it had helped him to let go of some of the torment in his life. Kelly returning had thrown everything through a loop, he loved his daughter and was overjoyed to have her back in his life but when he had first heard about her he was terrified of the memories that would resurface. His fear had been unfounded though, seeing Kelly, her red hair and smile so similar to Shannon's hadn't brought back bad memories, it had brought back good memories of a simpler time but it also brought hope for a future that had never been there.

"Don't wanna keep living in the past, Jen." He said quietly, "I don't wanna force ya into this either, if you're not comfortable then I get it but I'm done wishing for something that's been gone for years, wanna fight for the family we have right here."

N*C*I*S

Jenny tried to blink back the tears in her eyes as she took in the sight in front of her, Gibbs had his uninjured arm wrapped firmly around his daughter and Jenny could tell that they were both fighting for control. Jake stood just behind her watching the scene unfold uncertainly, Jenny could tell that he wanted nothing more than to run to Gibbs but that he didn't want to interrupt Kelly's moment with her father.

She leaned against the porch railing and placed a hand on Jake's shoulder, nodding reassuringly in Gibbs' direction. The kids had just gotten home from school, Kelly had dropped her bags in the middle of the driveway and had bolted up the porch steps as soon as she had noticed her father standing on the top of the stairs and Jake had followed quickly behind, stopping at Jenny's side suddenly, uncertainty taking over before he could make it to Gibbs.

Gibbs looked up from Kelly and noticed Jake hovering behind Jenny and pulled back from his daughter reluctantly, he crouch down sightly and smiled at Jake reassuringly.

"Hey, Bud." He said, holding out his arm to the boy.

Jake's face lit up with a large grin as he bolted into Gibbs' arm, knocking the older man slightly off balance. Kelly grabbed onto his uninjured shoulder and steadied him with a small laugh before any real damage could be done.

"Careful of Dad's arm Jake." She cautioned, gently running her hand over Jake's hair.

"Sorry, Daddy." Jake whispered, burying his face in Gibbs shoulder.

Gibbs looked at Jenny in surprise and Jenny couldn't help but tear up again at the look on his face, it wasn't just one of surprise but something Jenny had never seen on his face before, peace. Gibbs didn't respond to the boy's apology he simply hugged him against his chest tighter and looked up at Kelly with a small grin.

"I hope that's okay." Kelly whispered, nodding towards Jake so he knew what she was talking about.

"More 'n okay." Gibbs replied, giving the boy one last squeeze before standing up.

Jenny and Gibbs had spent the afternoon talking, they had talked about the kids, Jenny filling him in on everything he had missed and about how things would work in the future. They never discussed the past or their relationship, sticking to safer topics instead but Jenny felt lighter and more at peace than she had in years. They had come to the agreement that all three of the kids would be treated equally, decisions regarding them would be made together, Shannon's memory would play a role in how Kelly was raised but it wouldn't dominate their house. Jenny had joked about Gibbs' willingness to talk but she also understood that he was doing everything in his power to make their situation work and she was willing to put in the same effort.

"Guess what Dad!" Jake exclaimed, looking up at Gibbs excitedly.

"What?" Gibbs asked, raising an eyebrow at the boy.

"I made the soccer team!"

"That's great!" Gibbs replied enthusiastically, reaching down to ruffle Jake's hair.

"Oh and I got all of my math homework questions right!" Jake added, looking at Jenny proudly, "where's Papa? I want to tell him."

"Grandpa and Papa should be home soon." Jenny replied, peeking at her watch to check the time, "Why don't you grab a snack really quick and then play with Jethro for a bit." Jenny suggested, "there are carrot sticks and cookies on the counter."

"Can Daddy come with me?" Jake asked, looking at Gibbs expectantly.

Gibbs smirked and nodded, he placed his good hand on Jake's shoulder and followed him inside, shaking his head when Jake started rambling on about his day and his classmates.

"And how was your day?" Jenny asked, turning to Kelly who was grinning at the house and the sound of excited barking coming from inside, "and what've you got there?" She added, nodding at the oddly shaped case sitting next to her backpack.

"Oh it's a violin," Kelly replied, "The school lets music students sign instruments out so they can practice, and my day was good I had lunch outside today so that was nice."

"Did you eat by yourself or with someone else?" Jenny asked.

She knew Kelly was friendly but she got the sense that the teen was more focused on school than making friends and while that wasn't necessarily a bad thing she wanted Kelly to know that it was okay to take a break and make friends too.

"I ate with Sandy." Kelly replied, "That girl that I told you about yesterday." She added.

"The one who just moved here from India with her parents, right?" Jenny asked.

"Yup." Kelly replied, grabbing her bag and the violin case before following Jenny inside, "we have music class together and she's in the art program too."

"Who is?" Gibbs asked, catching the end of their conversation as they walked into the kitchen.

"My friend Sandy." Kelly replied, "She just moved here from India, she invited me to this art show the school is putting on tomorrow afternoon but I don't know if I'll go."

"Why not?" Jenny asked, "it sounds interesting."

"It's after school, I'll probably have homework and Dad just got home, maybe I'll go to the next one."

"If you don't wanna go that's fine but don't worry about me, I'm sure I can find something to do around here." Gibbs said with a small grin, he pulled a piece of paper out of Jake's backpack and raised an eyebrow. "Besides it looks like we'll be at the school tomorrow afternoon anyway, Jake's class is having an open house." He added, handing the flyer over to Jenny.

"What about Ava?" Kelly asked, "I can babysit her while you go to Jake's thing."

"Don't worry about Ava, that's our job." Gibbs replied.

"We'll just take her with us or one of your grandfathers can watch her." Jenny added gently.

Gibbs had missed their conversation about taking care of the kids but Jenny knew that Kelly would always feel responsible for Jake and Ava, she knew that the teen needed reassurance that they weren't a burden to them.

"You don't have to go if you really don't want to." Jenny assured her, "you can come home and hangout or go with us to Jake's thing instead but if you want to go with Sandy to the art show then you should, it sounds like it'll be fun and you'll probably learn something new."

"There _is_ supposed to be a demo happening." Kelly stated, excitement creeping back into her voice, "if you're sure you really don't mind."

"We don't mind." Jenny reassured her with a patient smile, "we talked about this remember?"

Kelly smiled softly and nodded her head, "I'm working on it." She promised.

She was still having a hard time accepting the fact that she was allowed to be a kid, allowed to have fun and mess up, that messing up wouldn't end with Jenny and Gibbs sending them back.

Jenny winked at Kelly and smiled when the teen grinned and grabbed a cookie off of the plate in front of her.

"What happened to Jake?" Kelly questioned when she noticed the missing boy.

"He grabbed a cookie and took off upstairs." Gibbs replied, "Said he wanted to get changed and then go play outside."

Kelly nodded and shifted her eyes to Gibbs' arm and the sling it was resting in.

"How's your arm?"

"Just a flesh wound," Gibbs replied with a shrug, "a few stitches and I'll need to wear this sling for a week or so but then I'll be good as new."

"And your head?" Kelly asked.

"Still sore, but I'll survive." He responded, "stop worrying, I'm fine."

Kelly raised an eyebrow at him but nodded, not quite convinced but willing to let the subject drop.

"If you're sure you're fine I'm going to go work on some homework." Kelly said, picking up her bags and another cookie.

"We're all fine." Jenny assured her.

Gibbs waited until he was sure Kelly was upstairs before turning to Jenny, who was unpacking Jake's backpack and putting everything away.

"You're good at this." He stated quietly.

"Good at cleaning?" Jenny asked, glancing over her shoulder at him with a small smirk.

"No, being a mom." Gibbs corrected.

He wasn't expecting Jenny to completely tense, he watched her shake her head slowly, her back still turned to him.

"Don't say that," She whispered, "I don't get to be called a good mom, not after everything."

Gibbs sighed and stepped towards her, he placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently.

"You couldn't have done anything to protect the baby, that wasn't your fault, Jen." He replied.

He felt her body relax a little bit and took a risk, he let his hand slide off of her shoulder and wrapped his arm around her waist letting his hand come to rest on her abdomen.

"You're a good mom, Jen." He whispered again.

He wasn't one to give out praise often but he wanted her to know how much he appreciated everything she was doing for him and the kids, he wanted her to know that she was wanted just as much as she was needed.

"I wasn't a good mom to Daniella." She muttered.

Gibbs swallowed and gently pulled her back against his chest, he had been wondering how long they could go without the topic of Daniella coming up.

"What happened?" He asked quietly.

He was trying to focus on her and listen to where Jake and Kelly were at the same time, he didn't want them to overhear their conversation.

"I was twenty three when I got pregnant, twenty four when I had her. I was young and stupid and had made some really bad choices." She explained, "her dad wasn't a good guy, he didn't want me to even have her but I did. I couldn't give her a safe and happy life, not then, I wasn't in a good place to even take care of myself never mind a baby and I was worried my ex would try and take her if I kept her so I gave her up."

Gibbs felt Jenny leaning back against him as she talked and gently moved his thumb back and forth over her abdomen, trying to offer her some form of comfort.

"You did the right thing." He whispered, "you made sure you're daughter would be safe, even if it meant giving her up."

 **OMG! Chapter twenty already guys! (Okay maybe not** ** _already_** **because it's been close to a year but still!) Thank you guys so much for all of your support so far and all of your awesome reviews I love to hear them! Please remember I don't own any of the recognizable characters :(… I hope you enjoyed this chapter, all mistakes are mine!**

 **~Katie**


	21. Comfort and Compromise

**Twenty-One**

Jenny leaned against Gibbs' firm chest and let out a small sigh, at some point in the last two minutes she had turned around and wrapped her arms around his waist, surprising both of them. Leaning her back against him was one thing, wrapping her arms around him was another.

Gibbs had been surprised when Jenny had turned and wrapped her arms around his waist but he had recovered quickly and wrapped his good arm around her back, keeping her tucked safely against him. It had been years since he had held her and although he had always been amazed by how tiny she was without her heels on, the perfect height for him to rest his chin on the top of her head, he was worried by how thin and frail she felt in his arms at that moment. He kept still for a moment before gently running his hand up and down her back, he was waiting for her to step back and comment on how inappropriate them hugging was but she simply rested her forehead against his chest and leaned closer, letting her own hands drift up and down his back.

"I hate to break up whatever version of foreplay this is, God only knows how long it's been since either of you has gotten laid but we don't need to see this." A gruff voice commented.

Gibbs felt Jenny tense slightly in his arms but she didn't try to pull away, he could almost feel her roll her eyes at Mike's words.

"You are aware that this is our house, what we do and where is our choice." Jenny pointed out, not lifting her head from Gibbs' chest.

"I don't give a damn if you two have sex on the counter, I know for a fact it wouldn't be the first time." Mike replied, "I'm just saying you probably don't want your father and daughter watching."

Jenny groaned and tensed in Gibbs' arms, she had forgotten about Jack, she tried to step away but he kept his grip on her firm, only loosening it enough that she could turn around to face Mike and Jack who were standing in the door way, Ava's car seat, Ava sound asleep in it, on the floor between them.

"Hi, Jack." Jenny greeted, grimacing slightly.

"Hello, Jenny, Son." He replied, nodding politely at his son.

Jenny felt Gibbs tense behind her and brought a hand up to rest over his where it was sitting on her abdomen.

"Jack." Gibbs greeted tersely.

"You've got a beautiful family." Jack complimented.

Jenny felt Gibbs arm tighten across her protectively and tried not to roll her eyes, she had no idea why Gibbs and Jack didn't talk but she doubted she had any reason to need protection from the elder Gibbs.

"Jethro." She muttered softly.

She ran her thumb over the back of his hand gently, trying to reassure him that she was fine, that there was no threat but he didn't relax at all, he simply turned his hand and tangled their fingers together. She looked up at him in surprise but he was still staring at Jack.

"Why're you here?" Gibbs asked gruffly, "it's been twelve years, why show up now?"

"Your boss called and told me that you were hurt, couldn't stay away, not while you were hurt." Jake explained.

Gibbs looked down at Jenny accusingly but she only shook her head softly.

"Not me, Leon." She whispered.

Gibbs nodded and turned his eyes back on his father, Jenny didn't envy the man, even though it didn't affect her that much anymore the Gibbs glare was still unnerving.

"Thank you for taking Ava today." Jenny said, attempting to break the tense silence.

"We had a good day." Mike replied, trying to aide Jenny who was looking decidedly uncomfortable, "Probie loosen your grip or your girls hand is gonna fall off." He warned when he saw how tightly Gibbs was gripping Jenny's hand.

Gibbs immediately loosened his grip but didn't drop her hand, Jenny nodded to Mike gratefully and placed her free hand on Gibbs upper arm which was stretched across her chest.

"Pride called yesterday." Mike stated, drawing Gibbs' attention back to him, "wanted to know how you're doin' I'd give him a call if I was you."

Gibbs nodded, "did he say how Laurel and Linda are?" He asked, desperate to talk about or focus on anything but his father.

"Good, he and Linda just celebrated their twentieth." Mike replied, watching as Gibbs relaxed slightly and Jenny let out a small sigh of relief.

"Why don't you go and give him a quick call right now." Jenny suggested gently.

As sure as she was that Jack would want to catch up she knew Gibbs needed a few minutes to get himself together, and she wasn't sure how things would play out if he didn't take a minute to gather himself. Gibbs nodded and squeezed Jenny's hand before reluctantly letting her go. She watched him slip out of the room and let out a shaky breath once he was gone.

"Thank you both again for taking her today." She said, running her hands through her hair.

"He's still angry." Jack stated, completely ignoring Jenny's words.

"We've just had a really long day, Jack, I'm sure that he'll be better by tomorrow." Jenny assured him.

She knew the words were probably a lie but she didn't care, she just wanted a peaceful evening free of anymore drama if she could help it.

"Do you wanna go, or should I?" Mike asked, nodding in the direction Gibbs had gone.

Ava let out a small whimper from her carseat as she began to wake up, Jenny walked across the room and carefully lifted her out of the carseat, holding her to her chest carefully and rubbing her back.

"I'll go." She offered, "he'll want to see the baby anyway."

Ava sighed gently and stirred in Jenny's arms before nuzzling her face into Jenny's chest and falling back asleep. She gave Jack and Mike a small nod and slipped out of the room, she wandered around for a few minutes before she found Gibbs upstairs in her office, staring out the window that overlooked the side yard. She slipped in and shut the door behind her, she knew Gibbs was aware of her presence but he didn't turn around.

"You okay?" She asked quietly.

The sound of her voice made Ava stir and let out another small cry, it was the sound of Ava's voice that made Gibbs turn around.

The minute his eyes fell on the sleeping baby he couldn't help the small smile that spread across his face, she was smaller than he remembered and the sight of Jenny standing there holding her almost took his breath away. He stepped around her desk and walked slowly over to both of them, his eyes never leaving Ava.

"She's not going to disappear." Jenny pointed out softly softly.

She couldn't help but smile at the look of awe on his face as he ran a finger over the baby's chubby cheek.

"She's smaller than I remember." He muttered.

"She's tough though." Jenny stated proudly, "I think she's gotten bigger since she's been here."

Gibbs grinned at the pride in Jenny's voice and couldn't help but let his eyes drift up to look at her face, her head was bent and studying the baby in her arms, a loving smile on her face. In that moment he realized just how grateful he was for the woman standing in front of him, sure they had had their issues and things between them had been more than a little tense for the past year but watching her take care of the kids, seeing how much she loved them reminded him what an amazing gift she had so willingly given him.

He ran his hand over Ava's hair before letting it fall to Jenny's hip, she looked up at him in surprise and confusion.

"Thank you." He whispered.

"For what?"

He looked down at Ava again and then back at Jenny who was looking at him like he had gone crazy, he took a step closer and leaned down to place a gentle kiss on the top of Jenny's head.

"For giving me our kids," He whispered against her hair, "for doing this."

It wasn't even close to what he wanted to say, he wanted to tell her how much he appreciated the fact that she accepted him for who he was, that he knew and appreciated how much she had sacrificed to make him happy and to keep their kids safe and happy.

Jenny shifted Ava so that she had one free hand and wrapped it around Gibbs' waist, normally she would protest how touchy he was being but at the moment she just didn't care, she was content to let herself be held. Coming so close to losing him had been a bit of a wake up call, she still wasn't willing to risk everything they had to pursue a relationship, she wasn't even sure he wanted that, but she was willing to be a little it more free with her affection and more accepting of whatever he was willing to offer.

"It's like you're a different person today." She muttered.

She wasn't particularly upset by it, it was just odd seeing Gibbs so willing to talk and so affectionate when he normally kept his distance.

"Woke up this morning and realized that I'd nearly lost everything." He replied quietly, "don't wanna lose this." He admitted.

Jenny was about to respond when Ava let out a small noise of protest at being sandwiched between Jenny and Gibbs, she stepped back and looked down at the baby who's green eyes were wide open and staring up at here in annoyance.

"What's wrong?" Jenny cooed, "you don't like being stuck between Mommy and Daddy?"

It was the first time she had referred to herself as Mommy but as she said it she couldn't help the small grin that spread across her face, it felt right. Ava let out a small sigh and reached up to try and grab Jenny's hair, she quickly brushed her hair out of the way and shifted Ava, now used to the baby's antics.

"Do you want to talk about what happened downstairs?" Jenny asked quietly.

"Nothing happened." Gibbs replied, paying more attention to the baby than to Jenny at that point.

"You haven't seen your dad in twelve years and you said all of ten words."

"Got nothing to say to him." Gibbs stated, shrugging his good shoulder.

Jenny took a deep breath and closed her eyes, she was getting nowhere quick and she knew that as soon as Gibbs retreated back into his little bubble there would be no getting him back out.

"What the hell happened between you two? Your dad says he doesn't even remember."

Jenny wasn't one to push him for information, if she left him alone he would normally tell him in his own time but she could see this feud, whatever it was lasting for a long time and affecting their lives.

"He brought a date to the girls funeral." Gibbs replied quietly.

Jenny raised an eyebrow, she could understand why Gibbs would be pissed but she couldn't quite believe that that warranted twelve years of silence.

"Maybe he just needed support." She reasoned, "he was saying goodbye to his daughter in law and his only granddaughter, I can't imagine how he was feeling, how either of you were feeling."

"But you do Jen." He reminded her, "you lost a daughter too, how would you feel if the _one_ person you had left in the world showed up to our daughters funeral with a _date_?"

Jenny sighed and ran her free hand through her hair, "I'd be hurt." She replied honestly, "I'd be hurt and I'd be angry."

She had been lucky, Ducky and Decker had both been there to support her through losing her daughter, but the two people she had wanted and needed there the most had been absent.

"I've had to bury my child, but Jethro, I've also buried my father and I would give anything to have him in my life." She said softly, "I just don't want you to regret not making things right if something were to happen to your dad."

"You want me to forgive him?" Gibbs asked.

"I don't want you to have regrets." She replied, "you need to do what you think is best, I'll support you whatever you decide."

"Even if I don't want to forgive him?" Gibbs asked, "you'll still support me then?"

"Give me a hard question." She replied, echoing her words from almost three years before, "you know that I'm on your side, but we have to think about the kids, you can't keep them away from their grandfather, that's not fair to them."

Gibbs sighed and ran his hand roughly over his face, he knew Jenny was right, knew that she had a good point.

"I'm going to go downstairs, give Pride a call, take some time to think, whatever you need to do so we can get through the rest of this week without a fight."

Gibbs nodded and watched her leave, he hated that he was adding even more stress to her life but something in him was unwilling or unable to let go of the anger he felt towards his father.

Downstairs Jenny found Jack sitting alone in the kitchen, his head turned towards the large glass door that lead to the backyard where Jake and Mike were playing with the dog.

"How long have you known my son?" Jack asked, not looking away from the window.

Jenny placed Ava down in her highchair and scattered some toys on it before leaning against the counter.

"Almost ten years." Jenny replied.

"Why is he so willing to talk to everyone but me?" Jack asked, finally dragging his eyes away from the door.

Jenny couldn't help the small snort that slipped past her lips, the idea of Gibbs willing to talk to _anyone_ more humorous than she cared to admit.

"Your son is the quietest person I know." Jenny stated, "it's a miracle if he says more than five words at a time."

"He talks to you, and he talks to Mike." Jack pointed out, nodding his head towards the back yard.

"Mike was the agent who investigated the accident, he was there for Jethro, he taught him everything he knows about being a good investigator." Jenny said, "and as for me we've known each other a long time, when you do our job, when you see the things we see, you get close to the people you work with, no one understands hell better than the people who walk through it with you."

"You and my son are more than just colleagues." Jack said, a statement rather than a question.

"He's the father of my children." Jenny replied, "he's been my partner in a lot of things for a very long time."

"But you're not married." Jack said, "the man Abby was talking to, Pride, said you were married at one point."

"We were never legally married, we were stationed overseas together and lived together for just over a year." Jenny replied, giving him the vaguest version of their past that she could.

"He called you his sister in law, told Mike that _his boy_ was in trouble."

"Like I said when you do our jobs the people you work with become your family, Dwayne Pride started on the same team as Gibbs, they worked together, they saw things no one should have to see together. Your partners become your brother's and sisters, your mentors become like second parents to you, in some cases partners get together because there is no other place to meet people and you spend all of your time together anyway." Jenny explained, "your team becomes your lifeline, the people you cling to when the world around you is up in flames. On your worst days, when your family doesn't understand why you can't bear to leave the house, why you jump every time a door slams, why you always need to be facing a door and close to an exit, that's when your team becomes your saving grace."

"Does that mean you abandon your family?" Jack asked, "That you leave behind those who raised you in favour of people you've only known for a short while?"

"It means finding a way to make both fit." Jenny replied with a shrug, "Jethro and I both went from having one or two people left in the world to having a huge family, a crazy, dysfunctional family but a family. Growing up it was just my father, my sister and I, my father died when I was twenty-two and my sister moved to LA shortly after that, I still have my sister her daughter but I also have two brothers, two more nieces, my goddaughter, and my own children. My family didn't disappear, I just added to it."

"Well my son didn't add to his, he completely abandoned it."

"I can't even begin to imagine what Jethro was feeling after he lost his wife and daughter, I won't pretend to know what either of you were feeling but I think you need to cut him some slack." Jenny reasoned, "It hasn't exactly been smooth sailing and clear skies for him and you couldn't even begin to imagine what he's had to go through since he lost his girls." She added defensively.

"You're right, I couldn't imagine, mostly because he's never told me." Jack replied quietly, "how am I supposed to sympathize with things I know nothing about?"

Jenny could empathize with Jack, she couldn't imagine not knowing what was going on in her kids lives, part of her understood what he was feeling, she had no idea where her daughter was or how she was doing but Daniella wasn't within arms reach. She wasn't watching her child's life play out from the outside looking in.

"I don't know how to fix that." Jenny admitted, "Jethro doesn't talk a lot, even to me or Mike and he certainly doesn't discuss anything painful or remotely related to bad memories, I think it's a coping mechanism."

Jack nodded and glanced back out the window, Jenny followed his gaze and smiled at Jake and Jethro rolling around on the grass, Mike had moved back to the deck and taken a seat on the steps and was shaking his head at the young boy's antics.

"I want to be a part of their lives." He stated, nodding towards the backyard.

"And you will be." Jenny promised, "the kids always come first, unless you give me a good reason to I won't keep them from you."

"And what would be a good reason?" Jack asked, immediately picking up on the threat in her words.

"Not a twelve year old grudge." Jenny assured him, "whatever is going on between you and Jethro is none of my business, but if it starts to effect my children then we might have a problem."

"And if my son decides he doesn't want me anywhere near them?"

"Kids come first." Gibbs stated gruffly from the entrance to the kitchen, "not gonna keep them from their Grandfather."

Jenny turned around at the sound of his voice and raised an eyebrow, he was more put together than he had been before, she could still see the anger behind the calm facade but it was well hidden.

"But like Jen said, you give her a good reason then all bets are off." Gibbs added.

"So don't get between Mama Bear and her cubs is what you're saying?" Jack asked, looking between Jenny and Gibbs.

"Something like that." Gibbs replied with a shrug.

He had seen Jenny when she was angry or feeling threatened and it hadn't been pretty, especially when he had been the target of her anger but he had no desire to see what she would look like protecting her children. He knew Jenny would keep the peace as long as she could but if whatever was going on between him and his father started effecting the kids then she would put them both in their places faster than they could blink by any means necessary.

 **Well guys, another chapter done, please remember I own nothing it all belongs to DPB! I really love to hear from you guys and reviews are always appreciated! This was more of a filler chapter leading up to the good stuff but everyone has been asking for some Jibbsy fluff and I figured that after twenty one chapters you guys deserved something! If anyone is interested in bouncing ideas around for the next few chapters let me know because I've got nothing!**

 **Thanks again!**

 **~Katie**


	22. Chapter 22

**Twenty-Two**

Gibbs shut the front door and locked it firmly, his mind swirling in every possible direction and his gut screaming at the newest twist life had thrown his way.

"Was that Tony?" A quiet voice asked.

Gibbs turned to see Jenny leaning against the stair railing, she had been checking on all of the kids when Tony had arrived, Jake had been in bed for over an hour and Kelly had gone to bed half an hour after that, followed closely by Mike and Jack.

"Yeah, it was." Gibbs replied, "we need to talk." He added, holding up two files for her to see.

Jenny raised an eyebrow and stepped off of the staircase, "what about?"

"Svetlana Chernitskaya."

Gibbs watched Jenny's entire body tense, her eyes shifting to look anywhere but at him.

 _"_ _Does the name Svetlana Chernitskaya mean anything to you Boss?" Tony had asked, "Abby couldn't get a direct match on our guy but she found a familial match, looks like she's this guys sister."_

 _It had taken Gibbs a minute to place the name but when he had he'd felt his stomach drop, dreading the answer to the question he was about to ask._

 _"_ _How'd she find that name?"_

 _Svetlana had never been entered into any databases, they had made sure of that, it was easier to take out an unidentifiable target._

 _"_ _She was in a car accident with her son last year, neither of them survived." Tony replied, "so you do know the name."_

 _"_ _An old case." Gibbs had replied vaguely._

 _"_ _Paris." Tony stated, "you get this look in your eye when something has to do with Jenny or Paris." He had explained._

 _"_ _Make it disappear." Gibbs had ordered without explanation, "make him disappear into the system and get rid of the name Svetlana Chrnitskaya everywhere, neither of them ever existed."_

 _"_ _What about Vance and SecNav?" Tony had asked._

 _He would do whatever his boss and mentor asked of him but he wanted to make sure that Gibbs didn't suffer because of what he was demanding._

 _"_ _SecNav won't say anything and he'll deal with Vance."_

 _SecNav would want to stop whatever political nightmare this would cause before it could even start, the name Svetlana Chernitskaya would disappear within a matter of minutes._

"What about her?" Jenny asked.

Gibbs stepped forward and gently grabbed Jenny's forearm, leading her away from the stairway and any possibility of being overheard.

"How did she die in a car accident a year ago?" Gibbs asked.

Jenny fought to control her facial expression as she tried to figure out the best way to answer Gibbs' question, everything in her wanted to lie, to say that it must be a mistake but she couldn't, not after everything.

"How could a woman who'd been dead for seven years die in a car accident a year ago?" Gibbs asked again.

"She wasn't dead." Jenny replied, her voice barely a whisper.

Gibbs ran his hand roughly over his face, he had desperately wanted her to tell him that it must be a mistake, that Svetlana had been dead for years, that his gut and what it was trying to tell him was wrong.

"Why not?" His voice wasn't accusatory, it wasn't even angry, just tired, "what the hell happened?"

"Everything had gone according to plan, I was ready to pull the trigger." Jenny whispered.

"Why didn't you?"

"She told me she was pregnant." Jenny replied, "I couldn't do it, not knowing that I wasn't just killing a woman who had done horrible things, I was killing an innocent child."

Gibbs did some quick mental math and came to a sudden realization, Jenny had left a week after the hits on their three targets had taken place.

"Not knowing you were pregnant too." He added, waiting for her to deny it.

"I'd found out the day before." She admitted.

Jenny had been off the day before their op, both he and Decker had seen it but they had just chalked it up to nerves on her first 'sanctioned' hit. Sure she had killed before but it had always been in the heat of the moment and to protect herself or her team.

"Her son died in the accident with her." Gibbs informed her.

Jenny's shoulders slumped and she couldn't help but feel sorrow over the young life lost.

"Why is it important now?" Jenny asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Abbs couldn't get a direct match on our guy but she found a familial match, looks like he's Svetlana's brother."

"This was my fault." Jenny whispered her shoulders tensing again as she realized how badly she had screwed up, "you almost died because of me."

"Didn't almost die, got a bump on the head and a scratch." Gibbs replied, completely ignoring the look Jenny was giving him for his gross understatements. "It isn't just your fault, 's mine too, you weren't ready for that assignment, you were damn good but you were still green and you didn't have the stomach for killing in cold blood, you still don't, I knew that and I still sent you in."

Even though he still had his doubts about who had killed Renée Benoit Gibbs didn't doubt that if it had been Jenny she had seen it as justice, just as in his mind killing Pedro Hernandez hadn't been in cold blood, rather the justice the man deserved. Jenny had always been sensitive to death, she hated autopsy and being anywhere near anything related to death, she had only pushed through crime scenes to find answers for the families.

"I could have done it." Jenny argued weakly, "I was going to do it, I knew what my job was, what I had to do as an agent."

"But what you had to do as a mother outweighed that." Gibbs finished for her.

He was surprised to find that he wasn't upset, he couldn't imagine the rollercoaster of emotions Jenny had been experiencing, paired with stress and hormones he couldn't blame her for her decision. Had he had to do it, even as a trained killer, experienced and level headed he wasn't sure he would have been able to pull the trigger, not knowing he would also be taking an innocent life.

"I'm not happy you lied, that you didn't let me handle it but it's done." He stated.

"Why are you being so calm about this? Why aren't you yelling?" Jenny asked suspiciously.

He had every right to be berating her skills as an agent, to be telling her how badly she had screwed up, that she had put their family at risk but he simply looked exhausted.

"Too tired to yell." He replied with a small shrug, "besides I have a feeling SecNav will have more than enough to say about it."

"What happens now?" Jenny asked quietly.

She wanted to be terrified for her job, worried about what their meeting with SecNav the next morning would bring but she couldn't quite bring herself to care, not at that moment, she was too relieved that the immediate danger was past and that everyone was safe and relatively in one piece.

"It's being handled, he's going to disappear into the system and as far as everyone is concerned he is a delusional, grief stricken man and Svetlana's name is going to be wiped from everywhere, neither of them ever existed." He replied, "still gotta tell SecNav the plan but I doubt he's going to complain, it'll save him having to explain why we were doing the CIA's dirty work."

"Why did he do it?" Jenny questioned.

"Ducky thinks he wanted you to experience the pain of having to go through what Svetlana went through, losing her partner and having to raise a child alone, Duck thinks he acted alone, what Abby found on his cell phone pretty much confirmed that theory, he hasn't had contact with anyone significant in months."

"So it's over then?"

"For now, yeah." Gibbs replied, "but we still gotta get through tomorrow morning, SecNav will want to keep it quiet but I don't think we're gonna just be able to walk away from this."

"We'll deal with that tomorrow." Jenny said with a sigh, "I just want to go to bed and for this day to end."

Even though it had only been sixteen hours from when she had woken up she felt like the day had lasted sixteen years, her entire body ached and she felt like she could sleep for a week, her mind was numb to the point she couldn't even bring herself to care that there was a very real chance she'd lose her job the next day.

"Then go to bed, I'll make sure everything is locked up." Gibbs offered.

"Where are you going to sleep?" Jenny asked, just then realizing that all of the beds were taken, with Mike in Gibbs' room and Jack in the guest room.

The night had been so hectic between taking care of the kids, making cookies for Jake's open house the next day, helping with homework, making lunches and putting everyone to bed no one had even thought about where Gibbs was going to sleep.

"I'll just sleep on the couch." Gibbs replied with a small shrug.

"You're not sleeping on the couch with an injured shoulder." Jenny stated, rolling her eyes, "just sleep in my bed, we're both adults I'm sure we can manage to keep to our sides of the bed."

She would have offered to take the couch but she knew that it would be pointless, Gibbs would never let her sleep on the couch while he took her bed.

"You tryin' to get me into bed, Jen?" He joked with a small smirk.

"Or you can just sleep outside." Jenny muttered, turning and leaving the room.

Despite her pretend annoyance she couldn't help the small grin on her face, it was rare that she got to see the silly side of Gibbs but it was a side of him she loved. He used to be more carefree, she had even once heard Ducky compare the Gibbs she had known all those years ago to DiNozzo and she couldn't help but agree, but time and circumstance had changed him, made him more serious.

Gibbs watched as Jenny made her way up the stairs, he waited until he heard her soft footsteps on the ceiling above him before looking down at the files in his hands, one was marked with Svetlana's name the other was marked _Daniella Shepard._ He didn't want to keep it from Jenny but he also didn't want to put her through anything else that day, he sighed and ran a hand over his face before making a decision. He would tell her tomorrow.

By the time Gibbs made his way into Jenny's room she was already laying down in bed, the overhead light was off, a lamp on the bedside table was casting a soft light over the room. Jenny was laying on her side, one arm tucked under her head, her eyes were closed but Gibbs' could tell she wasn't asleep.

He silently stripped down to his boxers and white undershirt before climbing into what had always been 'his' side of the bed. Jenny waited for him to get under the covers before she reached up and switched off the lamp. It had been years since they had been in a bed together but despite the slightly awkward silence it was oddly comforting to know that he was only a few feet away if she needed something or if something were to happen.

"Abby called earlier." Gibbs said after a few minutes of silence.

"I'm surprised Tony was the only one to stop by." Jenny replied as she rolled onto her back.

"I told them not to come by for awhile." Gibbs admitted, "figured you wouldn't want them around."

"I appreciate it but I don't want them to feel like they're not welcome here, they've always been welcome to come and go at your house."

"Yeah but this is _our_ house."

"Where _you_ live." Jenny argued, "you've always had an open door policy."

"But you haven't."

"I haven't had a reason to before, you're team shouldn't have to change the way they work because of me." She reasoned, "I don't want you to change how you run things."

"It's not just me anymore, Jen."

"So?" Jenny asked, rolling over to face him, "when Kelly's thirty years old are you going to tell her not to come home?"

"No-"

"Exactly, so it's not fair to do that to your team, they're family too." She replied firmly, "we need to change some things to make this work, but what role your team plays in your life will not be one of them, they're family and you do what you have to for family."

Jenny blinked in surprise when Gibbs rolled over and flipped on the lamp on his side of the bed, she watched him get out of bed and exit the room, she wanted to call after him and ask him what the hell he was doing but she didn't want to wake up every other person in the house. She raised an eyebrow when he returned a minute later with a file in his hand.

"Was gonna wait to show you this." He stated quietly, "figured you'd had enough for one day but probably better that you see it now."

He had been debating when he would show her the file but he knew that she would be more upset if she found it and thought he'd hid it from her and after everything he didn't want to hurt her like that.

"What is it?" Jenny asked, sitting up in the bed and grabbing her glasses from the bedside table.

"Daniella's CPS file." Gibbs replied.

If the mention of Svetlana's name had made Jenny tense Daniella's name did the complete opposite, her shoulders slumped in defeat as she reached for the file, then tensed again as she realized what Gibbs had said.

"CPS?" Jenny asked, "please tell me you meant to say adoption file."

Gibbs shook his head sadly and handed the folder to Jenny, he hated that he had to be the one to put the absolutely crushed look on Jenny's face, he hated watching as her eyes welled up as she read the report in front of her. He hated the way her shoulders slumped as if she could no longer hold the weight of the guilt she was no doubt feeling.

"She's in a group home." Jenny whispered, her finger tracing over the picture in the file.

She could see her own green eyes staring back at her as she looked at the obviously older photo, Daniella had her nose as well but her hair was darker than hers, it still had tints of red visible but it was darker than her vibrant hair.

"They promised me that she would be adopted." She whispered, "what happened?"

"Tony said that she had some complications after she was born." Gibbs replied gently, "a heart defect, she's okay now but it took a few years to fix."

"How did you get this?"

"I asked Tony to do some digging this morning, he didn't tell anyone else what he found." Gibbs assured her, "I thought you'd wanna know though, give you a chance to figure out what you want to do."

"What do you mean? What I want to do?" Jenny asked sadly, "there's not a lot I can do."

"We can talk to D'Arcy, see if we could get custody." Gibbs suggested quietly, "we don't have to, it's up to you, I'll support whatever you wanna do but it's an option."

Jenny looked at him in surprise, they had just taken on three kids, had barely had a week to adjust to it and he wanted to add another kid to the mix, another child who he didn't know and had no responsibility to.

"I can't ask you to do that." Jenny objected.

"You didn't ask, I offered." He replied, echoing the same argument she had given him.

"That's a big thing to offer, Jethro." Jenny whispered, not seeing the irony in the situation.

"And three weeks ago you offered it to me, you stepped up for me and for three kids you didn't know." Gibbs pointed out, "we don't have to do it if it's going to be too hard for you. I know you weren't in a good place when you had her and if it's going to be a reminder that you don't want then we won't do it, but the option's there."

"It's not about that, she may not even want to see me, she probably hates me, Jethro."

"Maybe." Gibbs agreed with a small shrug, "but you're not gonna know until you try, we can talk to D'Arcy, just see what our options are and go from there, nothin' needs to be decided tonight."

"And if we decided to do it?" Jenny asked.

"Then we figure it out, we already have three kids, another one isn't gonna make that much of a difference."

"I don't want to force my problems on the kids, that's not fair to them."

"She's not a problem, Jen, she's your daughter. She's family and we do what we have to for family." Gibbs replied firmly.

Jenny swallowed and nodded, there hadn't been a day in the last fourteen years that she hadn't thought of her daughter, she had wondered who she was as a person, what she enjoyed, whether she liked sports or art, or both. As nervous as she was the idea that she might find the answers to her questions created a small spark of excitement.

"Let's talk to D'Arcy."

Gibbs grinned and nodded slowly, if someone had told him four weeks ago that in a months time he would be living in a house with Jennifer Shepard raising three, possibly four kids he would have told them they were crazy but there he was. He thought about Kelly's singing while she made supper and Jake's giggles as he played with Jethro the dog, the way Ava squealed when she saw Jenny and he couldn't help the smile on his face. He had never believed he would ever be a father again but there he was. His mind drifted to Shannon and the early years they had spent together just them and Kelly and his smiled softened but remained, he had loved his little family and always would but laying there, looking at the unsure smile on Jenny's face he couldn't imagine a life without her and the kids in it. He realized in that moment that he was done living in the past, he had everything he wanted right in front of him.

 **End of Part One**

 **Wow guys, that was such a wild ride! And we're not done yet! I was going to go on for a few more chapters in this part but I kept getting stuck and not liking where it was going so I made an executive decision to end it here, I promise there is more Shepard-Gibbs family fun coming up, new challenges for all of the Shepard-Gibbs clan as well as more romancy stuff for a few members of the family. Thank you all so much for your support you guys are so amazing! Please remember the only thing I own are my mistakes :(… I promise loose ends will be tied up in the next part but I had to keep you guys guessing a bit right? I love to hear from you guys and good luck to everyone who's going through exams right now (shoutout to all the high school kids!) Have an awesome and SAFE summer everyone, you'll hear from me soon I promise!**

 **~Katie**


	23. Chapter 23

Hey Guys! I hope everyone had an awesome summer I just wanted to let you know that the second part of this story is now being posted!

~Katie


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